Mirror ecstasy comes from feeling oneself a singular subject rather than generic flesh

Evidence

It should not be surprising that those less advantaged might sometimes experience the ecstasy of the mirror: they are moved by the mere fact of being a thing of flesh, which is there; like man, all they need is the pure generosity of young feminine flesh; and since they grasp themselves as a singular subject, with a little bad faith they will also endow their generic qualities with an individual charm; they will discover some gracious, rare, or amusing feature in their face or body; they will think they are beautiful just because they feel they are women. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1795

Categorization

• XREF: The ‘bad faith’ move — deriving individual charm from generic qualities — echoes the Sartre/Beauvoir taxonomy of bad faith established in earlier chapters. — connects to: The mirror stage explains why images grant and destabilize selfhood — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 84; Fan ecstasy is forced imitation, not self-expression; The Romantic self is constituted through successive contrasting experiences — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 540 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• The mirror stage explains why images grant and destabilize selfhood #expands (0.90) — Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late…, 84
• The mirror assimilates to the self only for woman, whose beauty is passive immanence #complicates (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1787
• Fan ecstasy is forced imitation, not self-expression #qualifies (0.72)
• The Romantic self is constituted through successive contrasting experiences #complicates (0.72) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 540