Early divergence between boys and girls is socially imposed, not instinctual

Evidence

Up to twelve, the girl is just as sturdy as her brothers; she shows the same intellectual aptitudes; she is not barred from competing with them in any area. If well before puberty and sometimes even starting from early childhood she already appears sexually specified, it is not because mysterious instincts immediately destine her to passivity, coquetry, or motherhood but because the intervention of others in the infant’s life is almost originary, and her vocation is imperiously breathed into her from the first years of her life. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 676

Categorization

• XREF: ‘Vocation imperiously breathed into her’ anticipates the later section on the myth of femininity and connects to the reader’s work on how identity categories are enforced from birth. — connects to: Gender differences are learned developmental outcomes, not natural expressions — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 668; Gendered adolescence routes girls toward inward distress and boys toward outward aggression — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 672; Observed male-female differences reflect social situation, not fixed essence — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 608 (+6 more)
• DEFINE: Clarifies the core ‘becomes woman’ thesis by specifying the mechanism: originary intervention of others rather than instinct.

Broader Connections

• Maternal vocation is socially imposed, not instinctually innate #corroborates (0.88) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 693
• Infants of both sexes develop identically through childhood up to age twelve #corroborates (0.82) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 676
• Selfhood is formed socially through others from earliest infancy #expands (0.72) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 737