Lesbianism is tolerated because it preserves masculine dominance

Evidence

As I have already said: men posit themselves as subjects, and at the same time they posit themselves as separate; to consider the other as a thing to take is to attack the virile ideal in the other and thus jointly in one’s self as well; by contrast, the woman who regards herself as object sees herself and her fellow creatures as prey. The homosexual man inspires hostility from male and female heterosexuals as they both demand that man be a dominating subject; by contrast, both sexes spontaneously view lesbians with indulgence. “I swear,” says the comte de Tilly, “it is a rivalry that in no way bothers me; on the contrary, I find it amusing and I am immoral enough to laugh at it.” Colette attributed this same amused indifference to Renaud faced with the couple Claudine and Rézi. A man is more irritated by an active and autonomous heterosexual woman than by a nonaggressive homosexual one; only the former challenges masculine prerogatives; sapphic loves in no way contradict the traditional model of the division of the sexes: in most cases, they are an assumption of femininity and not a rejection of it. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1035

Categorization

• XREF: Reverses the common assumption that same-sex desire is the greater transgression; connects to later queer theory debates about homonormativity and the toleration of non-threatening deviation. — connects to: Men invented the feminine-immanence division to preserve masculine privileges — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 157; Heterosexual interdependence makes both sexes invested in sexist arrangements; Lesbian hostility toward men fuses feminine resentment with a masculine inferiority complex (+2 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The insight that lesbianism is tolerated precisely because it does not challenge masculine prerogatives, while an autonomous heterosexual woman does, reframes the entire logic of sexual transgression and its social tolerance.

Broader Connections

• Romantic interdependence makes both sexes invested in preserving gender hierarchy #expands (0.85)
• Heterosexual interdependence makes both sexes invested in sexist arrangements #expands (0.78)
• Lesbian hostility toward men fuses feminine resentment with a masculine inferiority complex #contradicts (0.75)
• Dominant groups maintain advantage through affection-laced paternalism rather than hostility #expands (0.75) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 182