Marriage confirms masculine existence but constitutes feminine existence itself

Evidence

This shows the young girl becoming absolutely passive; she is married, given in marriage by her parents. Boys marry; they take a wife. In marriage they seek an expansion, a confirmation of their existence but not the very right to exist; it is a charge they assume freely. So they can question its advantages and disadvantages just as the Greek and medieval satirists did; for them it is simply a way of life, not a destiny. They are just as free to prefer a celibate’s solitude or to marry late or not at all. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1108

Categorization

• DEFINE: The core existentialist distinction: men use marriage as transcendence/expansion, women are constituted by it.
• DEEPTHINKING: The phrase ‘an expansion, a confirmation of their existence but not the very right to exist’ distills the entire asymmetry of Being-for-itself versus Being-for-others at the level of a single social institution.
• 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 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Marriage makes woman contingent while man mediates her to the universe #expands (0.95) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1196
• Male sexuality integrates with individual transcendence while female sexuality does not #expands (0.88) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 97
• Marriage annexes women to the husband’s universe #qualifies (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1109