Women fuse male sexual vigor and social success into one myth of sovereignty
Evidence
His desire is a gross appetite, his embraces a degrading chore: yet his ardor and virile force are also a demiurgic energy. When a woman ecstatically utters, “This is a man!” she is evoking both the sexual vigor and the social effectiveness of the male she admires: in both are expressed the same creative sovereignty; she does not think he can be a great artist, a grand businessman, a general, or a chief without being a great lover: his social success is always a sexual attraction; inversely, she is ready to recognize genius in the man who satisfies her. She is, in fact, turning to a masculine myth here. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1760
Categorization
- DEFINE: Beauvoir articulates the ‘masculine myth’ that conflates sexual and social transcendence.
- XREF: connects to: The virgin-desire myth serves male domination, not biological fact — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 948; Men more than women frame sex as a power contest — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2496; Male sexuality integrates with individual transcendence while female sexuality does not — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 97 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Male sexuality integrates with individual transcendence while female sexuality does not
#expands(0.82) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 97 - Men more than women frame sex as a power contest
#expands(0.80) — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 2496