Lacking a penis to externalize transcendence, the girl makes her whole self an object

Evidence

Deprived of this alter ego, the little girl does not alienate herself in a graspable thing, does not reclaim herself: she is thus led to make her entire self an object, to posit herself as the Other; the question of knowing whether or not she has compared herself with boys is secondary; what is important is that, even without her knowing it, the absence of a penis keeps her from being aware of herself as a sex; many consequences result from this. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 128

Categorization

• XREF: Directly prefigures the core thesis of the entire book: woman as Other; connects to the opening chapter’s framing of woman’s situation. — connects to: Female religiosity and eroticism both make the self an object for a transcendent being — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 705; The girl needs another consciousness to fulfill herself beyond solitary self-adoration — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 866; A young girl’s discovery of the boy’s penis can arouse envy rather than shock (+3 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The pivot that explains femininity’s Otherness not through anatomy but through the girl’s lacked resource for externalizing transcendence.

Broader Connections

• Female religiosity and eroticism both make the self an object for a transcendent being #expands (0.90) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 705
• The girl needs another consciousness to fulfill herself beyond solitary self-adoration #expands (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 866