Lesbian relationships resist neat virile-feminine role divisions and mirror heterosexual pairings in their variety

Evidence

Thus it follows that the roles are distributed in very uncertain ways: the most infantile woman can play an adolescent boy toward a protective matron, or a mistress leaning on her lover’s arm. They can love each other as equals. Because her partners are counterparts, all combinations, transpositions, exchanges, and scenarios are possible. Relations balance each other out depending on the psychological tendencies of each woman friend and on the situation as a whole. If there is one who helps or keeps the other, she assumes the male’s functions: tyrannical protector, exploited dupe, respected lord, or even sometimes a pimp; a moral, social, and intellectual superiority will often confer authority on her; however, the one more loved will enjoy the privileges that the more loving one’s passionate attachment invests her with. Like that of a man and a woman, the association of two women can take many different forms; it is based on feeling, interest, or habit; it is conjugal or romantic; it has room for sadism, masochism, generosity, faithfulness, devotion, caprice, egotism, and betrayal; there are prostitutes as well as great lovers among lesbians. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1075

Categorization

• DEFINE: Beauvoir dismantles the ‘virile lesbian’ vs ‘feminine lesbian’ stereotype by showing roles are reciprocal, fluctuating, and contextual.
• XREF: connects to: The Eternal Feminine is defined by paired opposite archetypes — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 654; Lesbian eroticism lacks the dizzying estrangement but also the hostility of heterosexual coupling — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1076; Uninstitutionalized relationships between women allow fuller self-exposure than heterosexual ones — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1076 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Lesbian eroticism lacks the dizzying estrangement but also the hostility of heterosexual coupling #corroborates (0.90) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1076
• Uninstitutionalized relationships between women allow fuller self-exposure than heterosexual ones #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1076
• Lesbian hostility toward men fuses feminine resentment with a masculine inferiority complex #complicates (0.75)