Mistrust of adults about sexuality magnifies a girl’s fear of childbirth

Evidence

The reassurance offered by grown-ups leaves the child worried; growing up, she learns not to trust the word of adults; often it is on the very mysteries of her conception that she has caught them in lies; and she also knows that they consider the most frightening things normal; if she has ever experienced a violent physical shock—tonsils removed, tooth pulled, whitlow lanced—she will project the remembered anxiety onto childbirth. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 717

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the general childhood discovery of adult deception and its role in forming the child’s world-picture, paralleling Freud on parental lies about the facts of life. — connects to: Factual knowledge about birth cannot override visceral dread for girls; Some women seek authority over children while fearing biological childbirth itself.; Girls’ early fears of sexuality often crystallize into a refusal of marriage (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Some women seek authority over children while fearing biological childbirth itself. #expands (0.82)
• Girls’ early fears of sexuality often crystallize into a refusal of marriage #corroborates (0.80)
• Girls’ desire for surgery masks fears of sexuality, pregnancy, and the womb #expands (0.78) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 767
• Expressed attitudes toward pregnancy mask women’s contradictory and repressed inner feelings. #expands (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1433
• Parental warnings about rape convert menstruation into crippling fear of men #corroborates (0.75)