Marriage annexes women to the husband’s universe

Evidence

In marrying, the woman receives a piece of the world as property; legal guaranties protect her from man’s caprices; but she becomes his vassal. He is economically the head of the community, and he thus embodies it in society’s eyes. She takes his name; she joins his religion, integrates into his class, his world; she belongs to his family, she becomes his other “half.” She follows him where his work calls him: where he works essentially determines where they live; she breaks with her past more or less brutally, she is annexed to her husband’s universe; she gives him her person: she owes him her virginity and strict fidelity. She loses part of the legal rights of the unmarried woman. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1109

Categorization

• DEFINE: Describes the concrete mechanisms (name, religion, class, domicile, fidelity) by which marriage makes woman a vassal.
• XREF: connects to: Patriarchal marriage domesticated feminine cosmic power into lawful order — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 367; Wife-as-property functions as display of the husband’s status — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 375; Marriage remains the defining reference point of female identity (+10 more)

Broader Connections

• Marriage makes woman contingent while man mediates her to the universe #corroborates (0.95) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1196
• Marriage transforms partners from erotically charged Others into the Same #expands (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1193