Men remain sovereign subjects in love while women abdicate entirely

Evidence

Men might be passionate lovers at certain moments of their existence, but there is not one who could be defined as “a man in love”; in their most violent passions, they never abandon themselves completely; even if they fall on their knees before their mistresses, they still wish to possess them, annex them; at the heart of their lives, they remain sovereign subjects; the woman they love is merely one value among others; they want to integrate her into their existence, not submerge their entire existence in her. By contrast, love for the woman is a total abdication for the benefit of a master. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1840

Categorization

• DEFINE: The passage operationalizes the sovereign-subject vs. inessential-other distinction as it plays out in erotic love, contrasting annexation with total abdication.
• XREF: connects to: Female power only earns honor once it is explicitly abdicated. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 368; Women are socially steered toward abdication while men are compelled toward arduous roads — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1844; Male authority in love is satiable while female devotion is insatiable

Broader Connections

• Women are socially steered toward abdication while men are compelled toward arduous roads #corroborates (0.90) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1844
• Male authority in love is satiable while female devotion is insatiable #expands (0.85)