Man defines woman not in herself but in relation to himself

Evidence

It implied, she would write, that “humanity is male, and man defines woman, not in herself, but in relation to himself,” and by all the qualities (Colette’s strain of “virility”) she is presumed to lack. Her “twinship” with Sartre was an illusion. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 13

Categorization

• DEFINE: Core definitional statement of woman as defined relationally rather than in herself — the book’s central thesis in embryo.
• XREF: Directly ties to de Beauvoir’s ‘woman as Other’ thesis elaborated in the Introduction that follows. — connects to: The Other is constituted by negation as the self which is not myself — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 675; Woman’s contradictory image stems from being man’s inessential Other — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 413; A real woman is defined by accepting herself as Other, not by biology — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 668 (+9 more)

Broader Connections

• Woman’s contradictory image stems from being man’s inessential Other #expands (0.95) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 413
• Woman’s defining situation is being forced to assume herself as Other #expands (0.92) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 64
• Woman’s role is to be the mediating consciousness through which man discovers himself #expands (0.90) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 614
• Man projects his own unattainable interiority onto woman as mirror and Other #expands (0.90) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 401
• A real woman is defined by accepting herself as Other, not by biology #expands (0.88) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 668
• Male love requires woman as an object who remains unconscious of herself #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 614
• Individualized men recognize women as free individuals they desire recognition from #contradicts (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 367