Female passivity is socially imposed, not biologically determined, and self-reinforces through a vicious circle

Evidence

But it is false to claim that therein lies a biological given; in fact, it is a destiny imposed on her by her teachers and by society. … She is treated like a living doll, and freedom is denied her; thus a vicious circle is closed; for the less she exercises her freedom to understand, grasp, and discover the world around her, the less she will find its resources, and the less she will dare to affirm herself as subject; if she were encouraged, she could show the same vibrant exuberance, the same curiosity, the same spirit of initiative, and the same intrepidness as the boy. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 691

Categorization

• XREF: The vicious circle of denied freedom reducing self-affirmation directly foreshadows later chapters on woman as Other; connects to Beauvoir’s existentialist framework of situation shaping subjectivity. — connects to: Women’s exclusion from authority stems from learned passivity, not innate inferiority — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café: Freedom,…, 673; Female intactness is mythically imagined as a threatening mana that ruins male vigor — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 342; Virginity destruction makes the female body an irrevocably passive object — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 343 (+12 more)
• DEFINE: The ‘vicious circle’ device is central to Beauvoir’s causal account: denied exercise of freedom yields less ability to affirm oneself as subject.

Broader Connections

• Maternal vocation is socially imposed, not instinctually innate #corroborates (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 693
• Female sexual receptivity is an active vital expenditure, not mere inertia #contradicts (0.82)
• Moral inhibition and early disappointment create a vicious cycle blocking female pleasure. #expands (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 988
• Women self-select away from the highest-reward positions, sustaining gender hegemony #exemplifies (0.80) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 767
• Female bodily disadvantage only matters within a closed social situation #expands (0.78) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 838
• The female body’s shaping inverted from seduction into tactical concealment #expands (0.72) — Frantz Fanon, A Dying Colonialism, 210