Marriage remains the defining reference point of female identity

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 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

A young girl’s free choice was always highly restricted; and celibacy—except in rare cases where it bears a sacred connotation—ranked her as a parasite and pariah; marriage was her only means of survival and the only justification of her existence. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1096 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

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 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Marriage confirms masculine existence but constitutes feminine existence itself — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1108; Marriage annexes women to the husband’s universe — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1109; For women, marriage was the only route to social legitimacy — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1096 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Marriage confirms masculine existence but constitutes feminine existence itself #corroborates (0.95) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1108
• For women, marriage was the only route to social legitimacy #corroborates (0.90) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1096
• Marriage annexes women to the husband’s universe #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1109
• Womanhood is socially constructed, not biologically destined #expands (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 676
• Marital status markers carry gendered stereotypes about women’s desirability #expands (0.75)