Tag Archives: feminine vulnerability

Five Coins in the Fountain

Posted on May 12, 2026 by Abigail

Before feminism, girls in America were expected to be “popular.” But exceptionally, in my high school, I got an exemption. So, what high school did I go to? At that time, it was generally thought both democratic and fair to … Continue reading →

Posted in Absolute Freedom and Terror, absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, agnosticism, alienation, American politics, anthropology, anti-semitism, appreciation, art, art of living, atheism, authenticity, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, Bible, Biblical Archeology, Biblical God, bigotry, book reviews, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, cities, class, Confessions of a Young Philosopher, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, Desire and Authenticity, dialectic, eighteenth century, erotic life, eternity, ethics, ethnicity, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, fatherhood, female power, femininity, feminism, filial piety, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, Jesus, Jews, journalism, Judaism, law, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, Married Philosophers Discuss Confessions, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, medieval, memoir, memory, Messianic Age, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, mysticism, Nihilism, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political, political movements, politics, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, power games, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, race, racism, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, remembrance, Renaissance, repairing the culture, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, seventeenth century, sex appeal, sexuality, slave, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, Suicide, terror, terrorism, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, Truth, TV, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, war, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged Abigail L. Rosenthal’s Confessions of a Young Philosopher, activities for college credit, anti-feminist bigotry, artistic vulnerability, brainwashing, breaking women’s silence, Bronx High School of Science, commodification of women, courtship and self-disguise, dreams of a wedding night, eligibility for gifted high schools, expected to be popular, extracurricular activities, fear of losing femininity, feminine vulnerability, femininity and innocence, femininity as a duty, femininity as a skill, femininity at risk, Feminism, feminist manifesto, gifted young painter, girls and good books, girls with good minds, girls you can’t fool, high school dreams, high school Literary Club, husbands controlling wives, imaginary fears, imaginary fears and real dangers, innocence lost, intellectual girls, intelligent unsentimental girls, intuitive sensitive women and vulnerability, intuitive young woman, losing innocence, marital brainwashing, marital domination and victimization, not forced to be popular, obligation to be feminine, old maid, originality vs femininity, path-breaking vs femininity, planning to be wonderful, poetic and romantic young woman, poetic young woman, popular girls, post-marital muddying of painter’s colors, prefeminist self-blame in women, public schools for the gifted, putting husband through grad school, reading good books, romance in Rome, romantic dreams, romantic hopes, Rome’s Fontana di Trevi, sexism, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex, Stepford wives, surviving feminism, surviving pre-feminism, teenage ambitions, the art of womanhood, the freedom of wives, The High School of Music and Art, the silence of women, the vulnerability of being feminine, three coins in the fountain, true love and the Fountain of Trevi, wedding night disappointment, wedding night hopes, wedding night reproaches, wedding night virginity, wife as patient, wife of a young doctor, wifehood and mental health, willed vulnerability, wives and women’s liberation, wives hiding their beliefs, women and self-condemnation, women friends, women not shocked by life, women who live up to their promise, women’s post-marital erasure, women’s stories | Leave a comment

Boys, Girls, and Metaphysical Monism

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Abigail

By “metaphysical monism” I mean the view that every kind of variety and difference in the world is ultimately unreal. So what’s real? The One. In reality, the many things we experience are One Thing or – more precisely – … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, beauty, books, chivalry, cities, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, films, freedom, friendship, gender balance, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history of ideas, id, Idealism-, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, immortality, institutional power, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, martyrdom, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, mysticism, non-violence, ontology, oppression, pacifism, past and future, peace, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romantic love, science, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theism, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged above the battle, achieving samadhi, Achilles and the Hare, appearance and reality, ashram attractions, bad guys shouldn’t win, beyond good and evil, change as delusive, clever enemies, corruption in ashrams, credible defamations, damaging fictions, delusion of difference, difference as unreal, fall of the guru, feminine power, feminine vulnerability, finding refuge in a different culture, Gnosticism, Gnosticism in Western culture, human condition as fallen, idealization of women, malicious gossip, metaphysical idealism, metaphysical monism, metaphysical monism and human rights, new age and brainwashing, ordinary common sense, Parmenides, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, personal defeat of the guru, realized masters, refuge in ashram, spiritual dangers, stopping bad guys, the one as sole reality, women's vulnerability, yoga and abuse of power, yoga and ethical abuses, yoga and human rights, yoga and sex asymmetries, yoga and the guru, yoga as protection, yoga for health, yoga sex differences, yoga siddhis, Zeno, Zeno’s paradoxes | Leave a comment

Bad Faith at Sartre’s Cafe

Posted on December 7, 2021 by Abigail

Bad Faith at Sartre’s Café It may be of interest to note that post-World War II feminism (the “second wave”) was written-into-being by Simone de Beauvoir, a gifted French philosopher, in The Second Sex (1949). It was conscientiously researched and … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, alienation, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, bad faith, bigotry, books, cities, class, conformism, contradictions, cool, courtship, cults, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, Hegel, hegemony, heroes, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, immorality, institutional power, life and death struggle, literature, male power, masculinity, master, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, ontology, oppression, past and future, philosophy, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, roles, romance, romantic love, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, victimhood, victims, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a woman’s honor, bad faith, boundless freedom, café intellectuals, café life, café seduction, courtship blunders, existentialism, fear of women, female helplessness, feminine vulnerability, femininity as a choice, forfeiting social approval, French lovers, French philosopher, Freudian seduction, identity as a choice, intellectual helplessness, intellectual power, intellectual seduction, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean-Paul Sartre's Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre’s fundamental project, mauvaise foi, misogyny, non-monogamous, norms reversed, open relationships, parlor psychoanalysis, philosophic seduction, phoniness, post-World War II feminism, powerful men, resisting unwelcome advances, Sartrean existentialism, Sartrean freedom, Sartrean seduction, Sartrean self-invention, second wave feminism, self-invention, Simone de Beauvoir, Simone de Beauvoir's The Second Sex, theories useful for predators, truthful life, unwelcome advances, using Freud for one's own agenda, weaponizing Freud, weaponizing the unconcious | 3 Comments

How’s the Eternal Feminine Doing These Days?

Posted on August 25, 2020 by Abigail

How’s the Eternal Feminine Doing These Days? When I started this blog – lo! some years back – I was moved by a concern about women. We are being bombarded by half-truths. And if we women start down one of … Continue reading →

Posted in absurdism, academe, action, afterlife, alienation, American politics, anthropology, art, art of living, atheism, autonomy, beauty, books, bureaucracy, childhood, chivalry, Christianity, class, conformism, contemplation, contradictions, cool, courage, courtship, cultural politics, culture, desire, dialectic, erotic life, eternity, ethics, evil, existentialism, exploitation, faith, fashion, female power, femininity, feminism, freedom, friendship, gender balance, glitterati, Gnosticism, guilt and innocence, health, hegemony, heroes, hidden God, hierarchy, history, history of ideas, id, idealism, ideality, identity, ideology, idolatry, immorality, institutional power, journalism, legal responsibility, life and death struggle, literature, love, male power, masculinity, master/slave relation, memoir, memory, mind control, modern women, modernism, moral action, moral evaluation, moral psychology, morality, mortality, motherhood, nineteenth-century, non-violence, novels, ontology, oppression, past and future, peace, Phenomenology of the Mind, philosophy, poetry, political movements, politics of ideas, postmodernism, power, presence, promissory notes, propaganda, psychology, public facade, public intellectual, radicalism, reading, reductionism, relationships, religion, roles, romance, romantic love, romanticism, scientism, secular, seduction, self-deception, sex appeal, sexuality, social climbing, social construction, social conventions, social ranking, sociobiology, spiritual journey, spiritual not religious, spirituality, status, status of women, suffering, the examined life, the problematic of men, the problematic of woman, the profane, the sacred, theology, time, twentieth century, twenty-first century, Utopia, victimhood, victims, violence, work, writing, Zeitgeist | Tagged a woman’s agenda, a woman’s strength, acting unthreatening, American girls, “a woman knows where to strike”, being a woman, charming women, concerns about women, defamatory gossip, defending womanly presence, eternal feminine, European women, exemplary women, female aggression, female receptivity, female temptresses, female tenderness, feminine vulnerability, feminisms unseen hurdles, feminisms’ recommendations, feminist half-truths, good woman, gossips, half-truths about women, harmless flirting, inner rhythms, intuitive harmonies, jealous sisterhood, loss of standing, male bullies, male predators, manipulative coquetry, manipulative women, models of womanhood, nagging women, non-manipulative women, nonthreatening women, overcritical women, power in vulnerability, pretended dowdiness, protecting women, social reputation, social standing, success as a woman, successful women, the art of womanhood, the intimate enemy, the womanly art, tomboys, transitional era for women, vulnerability of women, womanly failure, womanly presence, women attacking women, women’s academic achievement, women’s instinct, women’s intuition, women’s literary success, women’s marrying advantageously, women’s self-defense | Leave a comment

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