Beauvoir lent Maheu a recent English novel she had enjoyed, , by Michael Arlen. She admired its independent heroine, Iris Storm. Maheu did not. 'I have no liking for women of easy virtue,' he told her...
I would have liked to have given a frank and balanced account of my own sexuality ... because it is not just a personal matter but a political one too. Beauvoir
If a woman was not free, it could be for two reasons. Her lack of freedom could be inflicted, in which case it constituted oppression. Or it could be chosen, in which case it represented a moral fault...