Phallic privilege is contingent on situation, not anatomically destined

Evidence

But these constants we point out nevertheless do not define a destiny: the phallus takes on such importance because it symbolizes a sovereignty that is realized in other areas. If woman succeeded in affirming herself as subject, she would invent equivalents of the phallus: the doll that embodies the promise of the child may become a more precious possession than a penis. There are matrilineal societies where the women possess the masks in which the collectivity alienates itself; the penis then loses much of its glory. Only within the situation grasped in its totality does anatomical privilege found a truly human privilege. Psychoanalysis could only find its truth within a historical context. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 128

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: The chapter’s payoff: the castration complex and even feminine Otherness are historically situated, not eternal — freeing woman’s subjecthood from anatomical fate.
• SEED: Could ground an essay on how symbolic equivalents (dolls, masks, totems) distribute transcendence across communities, and what it means for a society where women possess the collective alienation-objects.
• XREF: connects to: The meaning of sexual positions is socially constructed, not biologically fixed — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1978; The body is a permanent structure of being, not a contingent addition. — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 870; Homosexuality is a freely chosen response to situation, not a determinism — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1079 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• The meaning of sexual positions is socially constructed, not biologically fixed #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1978
• The body is a permanent structure of being, not a contingent addition. #contradicts (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 870
• The desire to provide is not an innate male instinct #exemplifies (0.80) — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 225
• Female penis envy is not innate but learned and variable. #exemplifies (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 684
• Sexuality is an ontological structure of the For-itself, not a physiological given #expands (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 1003
• The body is a self-developable means, not passive imprint or natural expression #expands (0.80) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 1210
• Homosexuality is a freely chosen response to situation, not a determinism #exemplifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1079
• Sexuality is a fundamental structure of being-for-others, not a mere physiological accident #expands (0.75) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 970
• Human deformation is a social product, not a damage to an underlying essence #expands (0.75) — Dirk Braunstein, Adorno’s Critique of Political Economy, 939
• Threatened privilege, not disadvantage, can also trigger politicized collective identity #expands (0.70) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 4441