Female power only earns honor once it is explicitly abdicated.

Evidence

As a vassal, she will be honored, whereas she was beaten and trampled underfoot when she saw herself as dominator or as long as she did not explicitly abdicate. She loses none of her primitive attributes; but their meanings change; from calamitous they become auspicious; black magic turns to white magic. As a servant, woman is entitled to the most splendid apotheosis. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 368

Categorization

• APHORISMS: ‘As a servant, woman is entitled to the most splendid apotheosis’ — a grim standing lesson about how systems reward self-abnegation in the oppressed.
• XREF: Echoes the dynamics in Things Fall Apart and the chivalric-love paradox; also mirrors how colonial subjects are honored only on colonizers’ terms. — connects to: Women who wielded feudal power were admired only by imitating male cruelty — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 207; Women are praised only when they avoid power; Women are praised only when they stay in traditional roles (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Women are praised only when they avoid power #corroborates (0.95)
• Women are praised only when they stay in traditional roles #qualifies (0.85)
• Men remain sovereign subjects in love while women abdicate entirely #exemplifies (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1840
• Female agency is expected but punished in leadership roles #contradicts (0.80)