Female reproductive biology subordinates individual life to species demands

Evidence

These anomalies are absolutely not a victory of the individual over the tyranny of the species: there is no way to escape that tyranny because it enslaves individual life at the same time that it nourishes it; this duality can be seen in the ovarian functions; the woman’s vitality takes root in the ovary, that of the man in the testicles: in both cases the castrated individual is not only sterile: it regresses and degenerates; un-“formed” and badly formed, the whole organism is impoverished and out of balance; it can only flourish with the flourishing of the genital system; and yet many genital phenomena are not in the interest of the subject’s individual life and even put it in danger. The mammary glands that develop at puberty have no role in the woman’s individual economy: they can be removed at any moment in her life. The finality of many ovarian secretions is in the egg, in its maturity, in the adaptation of the uterus for its needs: for the organism as a whole, they are a factor of imbalance more than regulation; the woman is more adapted to the egg’s needs than to herself. From puberty to menopause she is the principal site of a story that takes place in her and does not concern her personally. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 97

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the ‘tyranny of the species’ — the biological alienation that the entire existentialist-feminist argument builds from.
• DEEPTHINKING: The claim that woman ‘is the principal site of a story that takes place in her and does not concern her personally’ is a paradigm-level statement — the alienation of female bodiliness. Usable as a lens across the whole book.
• XREF: connects to: Species reproduction increasingly alienates the female as individuality increases — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 96; The more individual the female, the more completely the species claims her — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 94; For women biological reproduction continues long past the sexual act in slow painful service — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 946 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• The more individual the female, the more completely the species claims her #corroborates (0.95) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 94
• Species reproduction increasingly alienates the female as individuality increases #corroborates (0.92) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 96
• For women biological reproduction continues long past the sexual act in slow painful service #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 946
• Biology alone cannot explain why woman is the Other #complicates (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 109
• Pregnancy symptoms and menopause are interpreted as species-resistance by woman #expands (0.82) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 110
• Biology shapes but does not determine woman’s situation or destiny #complicates (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 102