Female possession of the body makes penetration feel like dispossession.

Evidence

By breaking the hymen, man possesses the feminine body more intimately than by a penetration that leaves it intact; in this irreversible operation, he unequivocally makes it a passive object, asserting his hold on it. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 343 (#expands, via linked claim)

Deprived of this alter ego, the little girl does not alienate herself in a graspable thing, does not reclaim herself: she is thus led to make her entire self an object, to posit herself as the Other; the question of knowing whether or not she has compared herself with boys is secondary; what is important is that, even without her knowing it, the absence of a penis keeps her from being aware of herself as a sex; many consequences result from this. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 128 (#expands, via linked claim)

There are girls who throw themselves into many erotic experiences in order to escape sexual anxiety; they hope to rid themselves of their curiosity and obsessions, but their acts often have a theoretical cast, rendering such behavior as unreal as the fantasies through which others anticipate the future. Giving oneself out of defiance, fear, or puritan rationalism is not achieving an authentic erotic experience: one merely reaches a pseudo-experience without danger and without much flavor; the sexual act is not accompanied by either anguish or shame, because arousal remains superficial and pleasure has not permeated the flesh. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 986 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Man’s attempt to possess woman reverses into his own entrapment in the flesh — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 354; Women resist pleasure that feels inflicted or actively engineered by the man. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 988; Virginity destruction makes the female body an irrevocably passive object — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 343 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Virginity destruction makes the female body an irrevocably passive object #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 343
• Lacking a penis to externalize transcendence, the girl makes her whole self an object #expands (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 128
• Promiscuous defloration without deep arousal leaves women sexually uninitiated #expands (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 986