Erotic combat between the sexes is really each person fighting their own repudiated self
Evidence
In these combats where they believe they are tackling each other, they are fighting their own self, projecting onto their partner the part of themselves they repudiate; instead of living the ambiguity of their condition, each one tries to make the other accept the abjection of this condition and reserves the honor of it for one’s self. If, however, both assumed it with lucid modesty, as the correlate of authentic pride, they would recognize each other as peers and live the erotic drama in harmony. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1978
Categorization
- XREF: This projective-identification reading of the erotic struggle connects to Sartre’s bad faith and the for-itself/for-other dynamic in Being and Nothingness. — connects to: Male defiance itself provokes women’s counter-defiance in the seduction game. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1922; Gender conflict persists because each sex is its own enemy’s accomplice in bad faith. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1970; Male violence against women partly stems from resentment of their own bodily arousal — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core: On the Role of…, 609 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Male violence against women partly stems from resentment of their own bodily arousal
#exemplifies(0.85) — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 609 - Violence defends male subjectivity against being objectified by others
#expands(0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 836 - Encountering one’s double redirects aggression from the other toward the self.
#exemplifies(0.78) — Naomi Klein, Doppelganger, 217