Lesbianism is neither failure nor superiority but a free choice.

Evidence

For Adler, this fixation is not a passively endured accident: it is desired by the subject who, in her will for power, deliberately denies her mutilation and seeks to identify with the man whose domination she refuses. Whether from infantile fixation or masculine protest, homosexuality would appear in any case as unfinished development. In truth, the lesbian is no more a “failed” woman than a “superior” woman. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1034

Categorization

• XREF: Rejects both Freud’s ‘failed woman’ and Marañón’s ‘superior woman’ — a double-refutation method paralleling Beauvoir’s moves throughout the book. — connects to: Homosexuality is a freely chosen response to situation, not a determinism — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1079; True happiness requires a freedom neither gender currently possesses; Female homosexuality is a reconciliation of autonomy with bodily passivity — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1035

Broader Connections

• Homosexuality is a freely chosen response to situation, not a determinism #corroborates (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1079
• Female homosexuality is a reconciliation of autonomy with bodily passivity #expands (0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1035
• True happiness requires a freedom neither gender currently possesses #expands (0.70)