Woman is always defined as Other, never positively for herself

Evidence

This comes from being considered not positively, as she is for herself, but negatively, such as she appears to man. Because if there are other Others than the woman, she is still always defined as Other. And her ambiguity is that of the very idea of Other: it is that of the human condition as defined in its relation with the Other. It has already been said that the Other is Evil; but as it is necessary for the Good, it reverts to the Good; through the Other, I accede to the Whole, but it separates me from the Whole; it is the door to infinity and the measure of my finitude. And this is why woman embodies no set concept; through her the passage from hope to failure, hatred to love, good to bad, bad to good takes place ceaselessly. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 323

Categorization

• DEFINE: Lays down the load-bearing definition — ‘Other’ as the negative, ambivalent position that grounds woman’s defining ambiguity.
• XREF: Situates Beauvoir directly against Hegel’s master-slave dialectic and the existentialist treatment of the Other (Sartre’s Being and Nothingness) that this foundational reading aims to anchor. — connects to: Women were never a caste but the absolute Other without reciprocity — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 319; A real woman is defined by accepting herself as Other, not by biology — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 668; Man defines woman not in herself but in relation to himself — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 13 (+4 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The sentence ‘through the Other, I accede to the Whole, but it separates me from the Whole; it is the door to infinity and the measure of my finitude’ compresses the full existential phenomenology of the Other into a taut paradox worth sitting with.

Broader Connections

• Woman’s defining situation is being forced to assume herself as Other #expands (0.93) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 64
• Man defines woman not in herself but in relation to himself #expands (0.92) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 13
• Woman’s contradictory image stems from being man’s inessential Other #expands (0.90) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 413
• A real woman is defined by accepting herself as Other, not by biology #qualifies (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 668
• Women are praised only when they avoid power #exemplifies (0.80)