Domestic activity erases woman’s selfhood by displacing her identity

Evidence

For the moment, it is the housewife who is uppermost in her. Once she has dusted the insides of her cupboards, she dusts the geraniums on the windowsills. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1235

Categorization

• DEFINE: Illustrates the existentialist concept of woman’s identity being constituted externally by her role rather than by her own projects.
• XREF: connects to: Woman’s defining situation is being forced to assume herself as Other — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 64; Housework functions as an endless escape from woman’s own self — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1237; A woman invests her identity in domestic decor because she lacks other activity — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1205 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Brick Lane frames domestic submission as a suppression of self-expression rather than cultural conformity #exemplifies (0.85)
• Woman’s contradictory image stems from being man’s inessential Other #complicates (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 413