Hatred of domestic dirt can curdle into murderous class violence

Evidence

This defiance turns to bitterness and causes hostility to everything that lives. In the provinces, some bourgeois women have been known to put on white gloves to make sure no invisible dust remains on the furniture: these were the kinds of women the Papin sisters murdered several years ago; their hatred of dirt was inseparable from their hatred of their servants, of the world, and of each other. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1225

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with the ADDENDUM themes — this is a domestic-power horror mirroring the sacrifice/sumptuary control dynamics, and usefully contrasts with the libidinal view of cleanliness. — connects to: A feudal insult against the bourgeoisie was reused by bourgeois culture against workers — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1613; Outward conformity breeds domestic brutality where civilization’s force does not reach — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 189
• SEED: The Papin case as an essay pivot: cleanliness obsession as class warfare staged in the intimate sphere.

Broader Connections

• Outward conformity breeds domestic brutality where civilization’s force does not reach #expands (0.75) — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia, 189
• A feudal insult against the bourgeoisie was reused by bourgeois culture against workers #expands (0.72) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1613