The ideal of conjugal love was invented to reconcile marriage with individualist claims.

Evidence

Yet, during the nineteenth century, conceptions of the bourgeoisie changed somewhat; it ardently strove to defend and maintain marriage; and besides, the progress of individualism made it impossible to stifle feminine claims; Saint-Simon, Fourier, George Sand, and all the Romantics had too intensely proclaimed the right to love. The problem arose of integrating into marriage those individual feelings that had previously and carelessly been excluded. It was thus that the ambiguous notion of conjugal love was invented, miraculous fruit of the traditional marriage of convenience. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1145

Categorization

• DEFINE: Names and dates ‘conjugal love’ as a historically constructed notion, not a natural given — part of Beauvoir’s analytical apparatus.
• XREF: Connects to the modern genealogy of romantic love as an invented category — parallels the historical-construction method in the intro chapters on the myth of woman. — connects to: Romantic marriage ideology reframed love as a legal duty.; Stable love affairs reproduce the very vices of marriage they promised to escape — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1627; Romantic metaphysics originated in magic and serves to veil reality
• SEED: Essay angle: how ‘love within marriage’ as an ideal is a 19th-century invention masking the underlying property transaction.

Broader Connections

• Stable love affairs reproduce the very vices of marriage they promised to escape #qualifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1627
• Romantic metaphysics originated in magic and serves to veil reality #corroborates (0.72)