Women’s so-called inferiority complexes stem from real, objective restrictions

Evidence

Woman feels undermined because in fact the restrictions of femininity undermine her. She spontaneously chooses to be a complete individual, a subject, and a freedom before whom the world and future open: if this choice amounts to the choice of virility, it does so to the extent that femininity today means mutilation. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1037

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the Rougemont birds anecdote immediately preceding — the ‘neurosis’ is an accurate perception of a real threat; ties to standpoint-theory claims the reader has kept before. — connects to: Biologizing women’s inferiority is scientifically baseless and ethically vacuous — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 104; Adler explains woman’s inferiority complex through her total situation, not anatomy — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 124; Forbidding girls spatial exploits instills a felt sense of inferiority — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 697 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Women’s alleged faults arise from their enclosed condition, not innate nature #corroborates (0.90) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1745
• Low expectations for girls produce their own inferiority complex #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1938
• Women’s exclusion from authority stems from learned passivity, not innate inferiority #qualifies (0.80) — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 673