Girls’ adolescent revolt is symbolic and self-restricting, never effective like boys’

Evidence

When a boy revolts against his father or against the world, he engages in effective violence; he picks a quarrel with a friend, he fights, he affirms himself as subject with his fists: he imposes himself on the world; he goes beyond it. But affirming herself, imposing herself, are forbidden to the adolescent girl, and that is what fills her heart with revolt: she hopes neither to change the world nor to emerge from it; she knows or at least believes, and perhaps even wishes, herself tied up: she can only destroy; there is despair in her rage; during a frustrating evening, she breaks glasses, windows, vases: it is not to overcome her lot; it is only a symbolic protest. The girl rebels against her future enslavement through her present powerlessness; and her vain outbursts, far from freeing her from her bonds, often merely restrict her even more. Violence against herself or the universe around her always has a negative character: it is more spectacular than effective. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 899

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with the boy’s transcendence—Beauvoir’s core distinction between masculine going-beyond and feminine immanence first outlined in the introduction. — connects to: Girls’ bodily vulnerability in public space blocks their self-assertion where boys gain sovereignty. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1950; Forbidding girls spatial exploits instills a felt sense of inferiority — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 697; Forbidden physical violence denies girls the capacity to affirm and shape the world — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 836

Broader Connections

• Girls’ bodily vulnerability in public space blocks their self-assertion where boys gain sovereignty. #corroborates (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1950
• Forbidding girls spatial exploits instills a felt sense of inferiority #corroborates (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 697