#stereo

Like most guys, I had bought into the stereotype that all feminists were white, lesbian, unattractive male bashers who hated all men. But after reading the work of these black feminists, I realized that this was far from the truth. After digging into their work, I came to really respect the intelligence, courage and honesty of these women. Feminists did not hate men. In fact, they loved men. But just as my father had silenced my mother during their arguments to avoid hearing her gripes, men silenced feminists by belittling them in order to dodge hearing the truth about who we are. ↗

— Byron Hurt

#equality #feminism #hurt #pro-feminist #sexism

He said, I won't have one of those things in the house. It gives a young girl a false notion of beauty, not to mention anatomy. If a real woman was built like that she'd fall on her face. She said, If we don't let her have one like all the other girls she'll feel singled out. It'll become an issue. She'll long for one and she'll long to turn into one. Repression breeds sublimation. You know that. He said, It's not just the pointy plastic tits, it's the wardrobes. The wardrobes and that stupid male doll, what's his name, the one with the underwear glued on. She said, Better to get it over with when she's young. He said, All right but don't let me see it. She came whizzing down the stairs, thrown like a dart. She was stark naked. Her hair had been chopped off, her head was turned back to front, she was missing some toes and she'd been tattooed all over her body with purple ink, in a scrollwork design. She hit the potted azalea, trembled there for a moment like a botched angel, and fell. He said, I guess we're safe. ↗

— Margaret Atwood

#beauty #feminine #femininity #gender #gender-roles

My own sex, I hope, will excuse me, if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces, and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone. ↗

— Mary Wollstonecraft

#double-standards #empowerment #equality #feminism #flattery

While there still is a word for the word “normal”, the world with all it's constellations of problems will continue to assume they know what that means based on their experiences and upbringing. ↗

— Shannon L. Alder

#bias #insane #normal #stereotypes #stupidity

Why do we have to behave like idiots to prove we're not a stereotype? Why do we have to rebel against ourselves? Enjoy the freedom to be shy ↗

— T.J. Bowes

#rebel #shy #stereotypes #freedom

There is no deception on the part of the woman, where a man bewilders himself: if he deludes his own wits, I can certainly acquit the women. Whatever man allows his mind to dwell upon the imprint his imagination has foolishly taken of women, is fanning the flames within himself -- and, since the woman knows nothing about it, she is not to blame. For if a man incites himself to drown, and will not restrain himself, it is not the water's fault. ↗

— John Gower

#clichés #deceit #delusion #discrimination #double-standards

Women need to feel loved and men need to feel needed. ↗

— Rita Mae Brown

#men-and-women #love

When men talk about the agony of being men, they can never quite get away from the recurrent theme of self-pity. And when women talk about being women, they can never quite get away from the recurrent theme of blaming men. ↗

— Pat Conroy

#men-and-women #men

When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch. ↗

— Bette Davis

#double-standards #empowerment #feminism #gender #hypocrisy

Wendy," Peter Pan continued in a voice that no woman has ever yet been able to resist, "Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys. ↗

— J.M. Barrie

#woman