Women lack the practice of sovereign solitude needed for creative transcendence.

Evidence

Art, literature, and philosophy are attempts to found the world anew on a human freedom: that of the creator; to foster such an aim, one must first unequivocally posit oneself as a freedom. The restrictions that education and custom impose on woman limit her grasp of the universe; when the struggle to claim a place in this world gets too rough, there can be no question of tearing oneself away from it; one must first emerge within it in sovereign solitude if one wants to try to grasp it anew: what woman primarily lacks is learning from the practice of abandonment and transcendence, in anguish and pride. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1948

Categorization

• DEFINE: Central existentialist move: creative transcendence requires first positing oneself as a freedom (‘abandonment and transcendence, in anguish and pride’).
• XREF: Mirrors the immanence/transcendence apparatus she sets up in the Introduction; connects to Sartre’s Being and Nothingness on freedom and situation. — connects to: Women’s social gatherings bore because women lack shared independent interests — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1583; Women’s “revelations” are peace, not freedom, because they lack action — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1764; Women’s lack of creative genius stems from situation, not essence — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1952 (+7 more)
• ADDENDUM: Bears on the ‘Grafting & Growth’ theme only very loosely, but the transcendence/creativity axis is the analytical core of The Second Sex itself.

Broader Connections

• Women’s lack of creative genius stems from situation, not essence #expands (0.85) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1952
• Women’s historical absence of genius follows from denied opportunity #corroborates (0.80) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1952
• Feminine mythmaking requires leisure and distance from material necessity #expands (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 666
• Some women appropriate another’s transcendence rather than pursue objective aims #expands (0.72) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1823
• Women’s isolation from each other blocks recognition that their subjectivity struggles are shared #corroborates (0.70) — Christine Daigle, Jacob Golomb (eds.), Beauvoir and Sartre, 73