Women who wielded feudal power were admired only by imitating male cruelty

Evidence

These ladies of the manor, called viragoes, are admired because they behave exactly like men: they are greedy, treacherous, and cruel, and they tyrannize their vassals. History and legend have bequeathed the memory of several of them: the chatelaine Aubie, after having a tower built higher than any donjon, then had the architect’s head cut off so her secret would be kept; she chased her husband from his domain: he stole back and killed her. Mabel, Roger de Montgomerie’s wife, delighted in reducing her seigneury’s nobles to begging: their revenge was to decapitate her. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 207

Categorization

• XREF: The virago who must become ‘like a man’ to be admired directly instantiates Beauvoir’s core thesis that woman is measured against male standards and can transcend her situation only by renouncing femininity. — connects to: Women are praised only when they avoid power; Female attempts to dominate men are defensive responses to imposed oppression — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1966; Female power only earns honor once it is explicitly abdicated. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 368 (+2 more)
• STORYSTEM: The chatelaine Aubie — architect killed to keep her tower’s secret — is a ready-made gothic story seed: a woman’s hidden ambition versus her murderous husband.

Broader Connections

• Women are praised only when they avoid power #expands (0.85)
• Female power only earns honor once it is explicitly abdicated. #contradicts (0.82) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 368
• Women are praised only when they stay in traditional roles #expands (0.80)
• Pre-colonial women warlords were feminists through acts, not labels #complicates (0.78)
• Female attempts to dominate men are defensive responses to imposed oppression #qualifies (0.75) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 1966