Fairy tales encode gendered roles of active seeker and passive captive.

Evidence

In songs and tales, the young man sets off to seek the woman; he fights against dragons, he combats giants; she is locked up in a tower, a palace, a garden, a cave, chained to a rock, captive, put to sleep: she is waiting. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 706

Categorization

• DEFINE: Illustrates the binary of transcendence (male quest) vs. immanence (female waiting) through fairy-tale imagery.
• XREF: connects to: Feminine romantic fantasy scripts the girl as pursued object of another’s desire — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 709; A girl first learns her subordinate destiny through male-authored stories and culture. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 700; A narrative intended as masculine can be overtaken by its female characters — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory: Nations, Classes, Literatures, 687 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Women’s exclusion from authority stems from learned passivity, not innate inferiority #expands (0.85) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 673
• The passive feminine woman is a social construction imposed on girls #corroborates (0.82) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 691
• Implicit Prince-Charming beliefs predict reduced income expectations and leadership ambitions in women. #exemplifies (0.80)
• A narrative intended as masculine can be overtaken by its female characters #complicates (0.75) — Aijaz Ahmad, In Theory, 687
• Male authority in love is satiable while female devotion is insatiable #expands (0.70)