Sexual difference cannot be reduced to activity versus passivity

Evidence

In nature nothing is ever completely clear: the two types, male and female, are not always sharply distinguished; there is often a dimorphism—the color of the coat, the placement of the mottling—that seems absolutely contingent; it does happen, though, that the two types are not distinguishable, their functions barely differentiated, as was seen with fish. However, as a whole and especially at the top of the animal scale, the two sexes represent two diverse aspects of the species’ life. Their opposition is not, as has been claimed, one of passivity and activity: not only is the ovum nucleus active, but the development of the embryo is also a living process and not a mechanical one. It would be too simple to define this opposition as one of change and permanence: the sperm creates only because its vitality is maintained in the egg; the ovum can only exist by surpassing itself or else it regresses and degenerates. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 96

Categorization

• XREF: Directly answers Aristotle’s active male/passive female schema and later Galenic biology; connects to her broader project of dismantling biological determinism. — connects to: Sexual difference cannot be reduced to the biology of gametes — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 88; Male sexuality integrates with individual transcendence while female sexuality does not — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 97; Biology refutes both the female-passivity bias and the male-effervescence bias at the gamete level — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 85 (+2 more)
• DEFINE: Advances her central categories of maintenance vs creation against the classical active/passive polarity.

Broader Connections

• Sexual difference cannot be reduced to the biology of gametes #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 88
• Biology refutes both the female-passivity bias and the male-effervescence bias at the gamete level #corroborates (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 85
• Male sexuality integrates with individual transcendence while female sexuality does not #complicates (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 97
• Female homosexuality is a reconciliation of autonomy with bodily passivity #qualifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1035