Modern women may still use their bodies as capital for sexual-economic exchange
Evidence
As in primitive civilizations, the amorous act is a service she has the right to be paid for more or less directly. Everywhere but in the U.S.S.R., the modern woman is allowed to use her body as capital. Prostitution is tolerated, seduction encouraged. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 297
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to Beauvoir’s wider argument about woman as Other and economic dependence; parallels Marxian analysis of commodified labor applied to the body. — connects to: Women who claim freedom reject being reduced to their bodies as passive flesh — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1041; Economic and social structures still subordinate women despite overturning the femininity myth — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 675; Marriage is structured as an economic exchange where the bride’s body is purchased — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1110 (+2 more)
- SHARE: Could send to someone interested in feminist economic theory — the stark claim that everywhere but the USSR women legally ‘use their body as capital.‘
Broader Connections
- Marriage is structured as an economic exchange where the bride’s body is purchased
#expands(0.88) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1110 - Economic and social structures still subordinate women despite overturning the femininity myth
#expands(0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 675 - Women who claim freedom reject being reduced to their bodies as passive flesh
#complicates(0.82) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1041 - Control of women’s sexuality intensifies when communities feel they are losing control
#expands(0.78) — Sherene Razack, Casting Out, 325 - Family history and biological legacy are physically inscribed on women’s bodies
#qualifies(0.75) — Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self- A Life in…, 229