Flesh prized in women is that which appears passive, purposeless, and inert
Evidence
The most naive form of this requirement is the Hottentot ideal of the steatopygous Venus, as the buttocks are the part of the body with the fewest nerve endings, where the flesh appears as a given without purpose. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 351
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the broader argument across the chapter that masculine desire demands woman’s body be stripped of subjectivity and transcendence. — connects to: Virginity destruction makes the female body an irrevocably passive object — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 343; Women who claim freedom reject being reduced to their bodies as passive flesh — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1041; Woman is prized as yielding material that resists mastery enough to remain precious — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 376 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Woman is prized as yielding material that resists mastery enough to remain precious
#corroborates(0.90) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 376 - Women who claim freedom reject being reduced to their bodies as passive flesh
#qualifies(0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1041 - Female sexual availability and passivity are structural features ordinary anatomy and force enforce
#expands(0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 946 - Virginity destruction makes the female body an irrevocably passive object
#expands(0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 343 - Men transform woman from flesh into an ethereal ideal, denying her body
#contradicts(0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 383 - Desiring perception treats objects as flesh that reveals one’s own body
#expands(0.80) - Being coveted transforms a woman into an object, which the neglected lover lacks
#expands(0.75)