Menopause brings repressed erotic fantasy that surfaces as neurotic behavior

Evidence

The crisis is felt much less acutely by women who have not essentially staked everything on their femininity; those who work hard—in their home or outside—are relieved when their menstrual servitude ends; peasants and workers’ wives who are constantly threatened with new pregnancies are happy when, finally, that risk no longer exists. In this situation as in many others, women’s disorders come less from the body itself than from their anxious consciousness of it. The moral drama usually begins before the onset of the physiological phenomena, and it does not end until long after they have been eliminated. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1708 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Objections to this system always imply respect for sexual taboos; but it is useless to try to inhibit curiosity and pleasure in children; this only results in creating repression, obsessions, and neuroses; exalted sentimentality, homosexual fervor, and the platonic passions of adolescent girls along with the whole procession of nonsense and dissipation are far more harmful than a few childish games and actual experiences. What would really be profitable for the young girl is that, not seeking in the male a demigod—but only a pal, a friend, a partner—she not be diverted from assuming her own existence; eroticism and love would be a free surpassing and not a resignation; she could experience them in a relationship of equal to equal. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1977 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Menopausal anxiety manifests as jealousy and persecution fantasies as defense against a finished life. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1718; Menopause distress is produced by anxious consciousness, not the body — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1708; Repressing childhood sexuality produces neuroses more harmful than sexual play itself — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1977 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Menopause distress is produced by anxious consciousness, not the body #contradicts (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1708
• Repressing childhood sexuality produces neuroses more harmful than sexual play itself #expands (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1977
• Repetitive obsessional work provokes alcoholic and sexual excess #expands (0.72)