Man’s liberator fantasy depends on keeping woman in a state of bondage

Evidence

Clearly man wants woman’s enslavement when fantasizing himself as a benefactor, liberator, or redeemer; if Sleeping Beauty is to be awakened, she must be sleeping; to have a captive princess, there must be ogres and dragons. And the greater man’s taste for difficult undertakings, the greater his pleasure in granting woman independence. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 398

Categorization

• XREF: Directly anticipates the myth of salvation/redemption themes Beauvoir develops on women and religion; also resonates with Freud and later feminist film-theory critiques of the male savior narrative. — connects to: Men’s contradictory demand makes woman simultaneously servant and sorceress — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 406; Man’s desire to conquer woman is really a pursuit of her freedom itself. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 408
• SEED: Angle for the sacrificial article: the ‘rescue’ archetype requires a damsel in distress, so liberation mythology covertly preserves the very bondage it claims to dissolve.

Broader Connections

• Men’s contradictory demand makes woman simultaneously servant and sorceress #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 406