# Quotes about feminism - Quotes: 59 - Authors: 6 - Broader topic: [Quotes about women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md) - Topic page: https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism - JSON version (same data): https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.json ## Quotes > It is dangerous these days for a male to write even glancingly on feminist themes. Did anyone attack Margaret Atwood’s right to extrapolate religio-machismo in The Handmaid’s Tale? Women writers appear vouchsafed insight into the souls of men—credit that seldom flows the other way. It is a sexist and offensive assumption, which does not advance understanding. [David Brin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin.md) · [Glory Season](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/glory-season.md) · p. 561 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/david-brin/glory-season/it-is-dangerous.md) Topics: [writing](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/writing.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Life can be better for women—economic and political conditions improved—and at the same time the status of women can remain resistant, in deed impervious, to change: so far in history this is precisely the paradigm for social change as it relates to the conditions of women. Reforms are made, important ones' but the status of women relative to men does not change. Women are still less significant, have less privacy, less integrity, less self-determination. This means that women have less freedom. [Andrea Dworkin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin.md) · [Intercourse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse/life-can-be-better.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Being female in this world is having been robbed of he potential for human choice by men who love to hate s. One does not make choices in freedom. Instead, one conforms in body type and behavior and values to become an object of male sexual desire, which requires an abandonment of a wide-ranging capacity for choice Objectification may well be the most singly destructive aspect of gender hierarchy, specially as it exists in relation to intercourse. [Andrea Dworkin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin.md) · [Intercourse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse/being-female-in-this.md) Topics: [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Freedom is not an abstraction, nor is a little of it enough. A little more of it is not enough either. Having less, being less, impoverished in freedom and rights, women then inevitably have less self-respect: less self-respect than men have and less self-respect than any human being needs to live a brave and honest life. Intercourse as domination battens of that awful absence of self respect. [Andrea Dworkin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin.md) · [Intercourse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse/freedom-is-not.md) Topics: [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > The public censure of women as if we are rabid because we speak without apology about the world in which we live is a strategy of threat that usually works. Men often react to women's words—speaking and writing—as if they were acts of violence' sometimes men react to women's words with violence. So we lower our voices. Women whisper. Women apologize. Women shut up. Women trivialize what we know. Women shrink. Women pull back. Most women have experienced enough dominance from men—control, violence, insult, contempt—that no threat seems empty. [Andrea Dworkin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin.md) · [Intercourse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse/the-public-censure.md) Topics: [silence](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/silence.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Laws creates male dominance, and maintain it, as a social environment. Male dominance is the environment we know, in which we must live. It is our air, water, earth. Laws shape our perceptions and knowledge of what male dominance is, of how it works, of what it means to us. Laws shape the experiences the experiences we have before we have them Laws significantly predetermine how we will feel, will understand, what will happen to us in life. Laws establish or humans the terms of our symbiosis with male dominance: what it takes from us to sustain itself as an overall environmental system. [Andrea Dworkin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin.md) · [Intercourse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse/laws-creates-male.md) Topics: [law](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Law steps in where nature fails: virtually everywhere. Laws create nature—a male nature and a female nature and natural intercourse—by telling errant, unnatural human beings what to do and what not to do to protect and express their real nature—the real man, the real female, the real hierarchy that nature or God created putting man on top. [Andrea Dworkin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin.md) · [Intercourse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse/law-steps-in-where.md) Topics: [law](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/law.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Inferiority is not banal or incidental even when it happens to women. It is not a petty affliction like bad skin or circles under the eyes. it is not a superficial flaw in an otherwise perfect picture. It is not a minor irritation, nor it is it a trivial inconvenience, an occasional aggravation, or a regrettable but (frankly) harmless lapse in manners. It is not a "point of view" that some people with soft skins find "offensive." It is the deep and destructive devaluing of a person in life, a shredding of dignity and self-respect, an imposed exile from human worth and human recognition, the forced alienation of a person from even the possibility of wholeness or internal integrity. [Andrea Dworkin](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin.md) · [Intercourse](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/andrea-dworkin/intercourse/inferiority-is-not.md) Topics: [dignity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/dignity.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Feminism was always wrong to pretend that women could “have it all.” It is not male society but mother nature who lays the heaviest burden on woman. No husband or day care can adequately substitute for a mother’s attention. My feminist heroes are the boldly independent and childless Amelia Earhart and Katherine Hepburn, who has been outspoken in her opposition to the delusion of “having it all.” [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sex, Art, and American Culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture.md) · p. 89 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/feminism-was-always.md) Topics: [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md), [motherhood](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/motherhood.md) > When feminism and gay activism set themselves against organized religion, they have the obligation to put something better in its place. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sex, Art, and American Culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture.md) · p. 36 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/when-feminism-and.md) Topics: [religion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/religion.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > In insisting, for political purposes, on a sharp division between gay and straight, gay activism, like much of feminism, has become as rigid and repressive as the old order it sought to replace. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sex, Art, and American Culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture.md) · p. 35 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/in-insisting-for.md) Topics: [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md), [homosexuality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/homosexuality.md) > Rape is an outrage that cannot be tolerated in a civilized society. Yet feminism, which has waged a crusade for rape to be taken more seriously, has put young women in danger by hiding the truth about sex from them. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sex, Art, and American Culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture.md) · p. 49 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/rape-is-an-outrage.md) Topics: [sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Feminism, coveting social power, is blind to women’s cosmic sexual power. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sex, Art, and American Culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture.md) · p. 52 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/feminism-coveting-social.md) Topics: [sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > What troubles me about the “hostile workplace” category of sexual harassment policy is that women are being returned to their old status of delicate flowers who must be protected from assault by male lechers. It is anti-feminist to ask for special treatment for women. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sex, Art, and American Culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture.md) · p. 47 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/what-troubles-me-about.md) Topics: [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > The idea that feminism is the first group that has ever denounced rape is a gross libel to men. Throughout history, rape has been condemned by honorable men. Honorable men do not murder; honorable men do not steal; honorable men do not rape. It goes all the way back through history. Tarquin’s rape of Lucretia caused the fall of the tyrants and the beginning of the Roman Republic. The idea that somehow suddenly feminism miraculously found out that women were being exploited and raped throughout history is ridiculous. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sex, Art, and American Culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture.md) · p. 273 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/the-idea-that.md) Topics: [honour](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/honour.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Contemporary feminists, who are generally poor or narrowly trained scholars, insist on viewing history as a weepy scenario of male oppression and female victimization. But it is more accurate to see men, driven by sexual anxiety away from their mothers, forming group alliances by male bonding to create complex structures of society, art, science and technology. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sex, Art, and American Culture](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture.md) · p. 23 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sex-art-and-american-culture/contemporary-feminists-who.md) Topics: [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Not a shred of evidence supports the existence of matriarchy anywhere in the world at any time. [...] The matriarchy hypothesis, revived by American feminism, continues to flourish outside the university [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sexual Personae](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae.md) · p. 42 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/not-a-shred.md) Topics: [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > One of feminism’s irritating reflexes is its fashionable disdain for “patriarchal society,” to which nothing good is ever attributed. But it is patriarchal society that has freed me as a woman. It is capitalism that has given me the leisure to sit at this desk writing this book. Let us stop being small-minded about men and freely acknowledge what treasures their obsessiveness has poured into culture. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sexual Personae](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae.md) · p. 37 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/one-of-feminisms.md) Topics: [capitalism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/capitalism.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Modern liberalism suffers unresolved contradictions. It exalts individualism and freedom and, on its radical wing, condemns social orders as oppressive. On the other hand, it expects governments to provide materially for all, a feat manageable only by an expansion of authority and a swollen bureaucracy. In other words, liberalism defines government as tyrant father but demands it behave as nurturant mother. Feminism has inherited these contradictions. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sexual Personae](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae.md) · p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/modern-liberalism-suffers.md) Topics: [the state](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/the-state.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Sexuality and eroticism are the intricate intersection of nature and culture. Feminists grossly oversimplify the problem of sex when they reduce it a matter of social convention: readjust society, eliminate sexual inequality, purify sex roles, and happiness and harmony will reign. Here feminism, like all liberal movements of the past two hundred years, is heir to Rousseau. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sexual Personae](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae.md) · p. 1 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/sexuality-and-eroticism.md) Topics: [sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > The moral ambivalence of the great mother goddesses has been conveniently forgotten by those American feminists who have resurrected them. We cannot grasp nature's bare blade without shedding our own blood. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sexual Personae](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae.md) · p. 8 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/the-moral-ambivalence.md) Topics: [nature](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/nature.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Feminism has exceeded its proper mission of seeking political equality for women and has ended by rejecting contingency, that is, human limitation by nature or fate. [Camille Paglia](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia.md) · [Sexual Personae](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae.md) · p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/camille-paglia/sexual-personae/feminism-has-exceeded.md) Topics: [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > "Life" in this "society" being, at best, an utter bore and no aspect of "society" being at all relevant to women, there remains to civic-minded, responsible, thrill-seeking females only to overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and eliminate the male sex. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/life-in-this.md) Topics: [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/revolution.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > A true community consists of individuals - not mere species members, not couples - respecting each others individuality and privacy while at the same time interacting with each other mentally and emotionally - free spirits in free relation to each other - and co-operating with each other to achieve common ends. Traditionalists say the basic unit of "society" is the family; "hippies" say the tribe; noone says the individual. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 7 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/a-true-community.md) Topics: [community](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/community.md), [individualism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/individualism.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Love can't flourish in a "society" based on money and meaningless work, but rather requires complete economic, as well as personal, freedom, leisure time and the opportunity to engage in intensely absorbing, emotionally satisfying activities which, when shared with those you respect, lead to deep friendship, but which our "society" provides practically no opportunity to engage in. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 11 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/love-cant-flourish.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [freedom](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/freedom.md), [money](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/money.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > [T]he male .... tries to convince himself and women - he's succeeded best at convincing women - that the female function is to bear and raise children and relax, comfort and boost the egos of the male, that her function is such as to make her interchangeable with every other female. In actual fact, the female function is to relate, groove, love and be herself, irreplacable by anyone else; the male function is to produce sperm. We now have sperm banks. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 6 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/t-he-male-tries.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Sex is not part of a relationship, but is, to the contrary, a solitary experience as well as being non-creative and a gross waste of time. The female can easily - far more easily than she may think - condition her sex drive away, leaving her completely cool and cerebral and free to pursue truly worthy relationships and activities; but the male, who seems to dig women sexually and who seeks constantly to arouse them, stimulates the highly-sexed female to frenzies of lust, throwing her into a sex bag from which few women ever escape. The lecherous male excites the lustful female; he has to - when the female transcends her body, rises above animalism, the male, whose ego consists of his cock, will disappear. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 12 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/sex-is-not.md) Topics: [sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Sex is the refuge of the mindless. And the more mindless the woman, the more deeply embedded in the male "culture," in short, the nicer she is, the more sexual she is. The nicest women in our "society" are raving sex maniacs. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 12 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/sex-is-the.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > [M]any females would, even assuming complete economic equality between the sexes, prefer residing with males or peddling their asses on the street, thereby having most of their time for themselves, to spending many hours of their days doing boring, stultifying, non-creative work for somebody else, functioning as less than animals, as machines, or, at best - if able to get a "good" job - co-managing the shitpile. What will liberate women, therefore, from male control is the total elimination of the money-work system, not the attainment of economic equality with men within it. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 3 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/m-any-females-would.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [work](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/work.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Love is not dependency or sex, but is friendship, and, therefore, love can't exist between two males, between a male and a female or between two females, one or both of whom is a mindless, insecure, pandering male; like conversation it can exist only between two secure, free-wheeling, independent, groovy female females, as friendship is based on [respect, not contempt.] [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 10 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/love-is-not.md) Topics: [love](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/love.md), [friendship](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/friendship.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Our "society" is not a community, but merely a collection of isolated family units. Desperately insecure, fearing his woman will leave him if she's exposed to other men or to anything remotely resembling life, the male seeks to isolate her from other men and from what little civilization there is, so he moves her out to the suburbs, a collection of self-absorbed couples and their kids. Isolation, further, enables him to try to maintain his pretense of being an individual by being a "rugged individualist", a loner, equating non-co-operation and solitariness with individuality. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 7 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/our-society-is-not.md) Topics: [family](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/family.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > He ["the male"] is trapped in a twilight zone halfway between humans and apes, and is far worse off than apes, because he is, first of all, capable of a large array of negative feelings that the apes aren't - hate, jealousy, contempt, disgust, guilt, shame, disgrace, doubt - and, secondly, he is aware of what he is and isn't. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/he-the-male.md) Topics: [emotions](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/emotions.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > To be sure he's a "Man," the male must see to it that the female be clearly a "Woman," the opposite of a "Man," that is, the female must act like a faggot. And Daddy's Girl, all of whose female instincts were tromped out of her when little, easily and obligingly adapts herself to the role. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 8 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/to-be-sure.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Being an incomplete female, the male spends his life attempting to complete himself, become female. He attempts to do this by constantly seeking out, fraternizing with and trying to live through and fuse with the female and by claiming as his own all female characteristics - emotional strength and independence, forcefulness, dynamism, decisiveness, coolness, objectivity, assertiveness, courage, integrity, vitality, intensity, depth of character, grooviness, etc. - and projecting onto women all male traits - vanity, frivolity, triviality, weakness, etc. It should be said, though, that the male has one glaring area of superiority over the female - public relations. He has done a brilliant job of convincing millions of women that men are women and women are men. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 2 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/being-an-incomplete.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Although wanting to be an individual, the male is scared of anything about him that's the slightest bit different from other men; it causes him to suspect he's not really a "Man," that he's passive and totally sexual, a highly upsetting suspicion. If other men are A and he's not, he must be not a man; he must be a fag. So he tries to affirm his "Manhood" by being like all the other men. Differentness in other men, as well as in himself, threatens him; it means they're fags, who he must, at all costs, avoid, so he tries to ensure that all other men conform. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 8 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/although-wanting-to.md) Topics: [conformity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/conformity.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > The male is completely egocentric, trapped inside himself, incapable of empathizing or identifying with others, or love, friendship, affection or tenderness. He is a completely isolated unit, incapable of rapport with anyone. His responses are entirely visceral, not cerebral; his intelligence is a mere tool in the services of his drives and needs; he is incapable of mental passion, mental interaction; he can't relate to anything other than his own physical sensations. He is a half-dead, unresponsive lump, incapable of giving or receiving pleasure or happiness; consequently, he is at best an utter bore, an inoffensive blob, since only those capable of absorption in others can be charming. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/the-male-is-completely.md) Topics: [selfishness](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/selfishness.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > The male is a biological accident: the y(male) gene is an incomplete x(female) gene, that is, has an incomplete set of chromosomes. In other words, the male is an incomplete female, a walking abortion.... To be male is to be deficient, emotionally limited; maleness is a deficiency disease and males are emotional cripples. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/the-male-is-a-biological.md) Topics: [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > The male dares to be different to the degree that he accepts his passivity and his desire to be female, his fagginess. The farthest out male is the dragqueen, but he, although different from most men, is exactly like all other dragqueens; like the functionalist, he has an identity - a female; he tries to define all his troubles away - but still no individuality. Not completely convinced that he's a woman, highly insecure about being sufficiently female, he conforms compulsively to the man-made feminine stereotype, ending up as nothing but a bundle of stilted mannerisms. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 8 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/the-male-dares.md) Topics: [identity](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/identity.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > The male claim that females find fulfillment through motherhood and sexuality reflects what males think they'd find fulfilling if they were female. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 2 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/the-male-claim.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Completely egocentric, unable to relate, empathize or identify and consisting of a vast, pervasive, diffuse sexuality, the male is psychically passive. He hates his passivity, so he projects it onto women, defines the male as active, then sets out to prove that he is ("prove he's a Man"). His main means of attempting to prove it is screwing (Big Man with a Big Dick tearing off a Big Piece). Since he's attempting to prove an error, he must "prove" it again and again. Screwing, then, is a desperate, compulsive attempt to prove he's not passive, not a woman; but he is passive and does want to be a woman. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 2 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/completely-egocentric-unable.md) Topics: [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > In actual fact, the female function is to explore, discover, invent, solve problems crack jokes, make music - all with love. In other words, create a magic world. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 6 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/in-actual-fact.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > It is now technically feasible to reproduce without the aid of males (or, for that matter, females) and to produce only females. We must begin immediately to do so. Retaining the male has not even the dubious purpose of reproduction. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/it-is-now.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > The male is just a bundle of conditioned reflexes, is incapable of a mentally free response, is tied to his early conditioning, is determined completely by his past experiences. His earliest experiences are with his mother, and he is throughout his life tied to her. It never becomes completely clear to the male that he is not part of his mother, that he is him and she is her. [Valerie Solanas](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas.md) · [SCUM Manifesto](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto.md) · p. 5 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/valerie-solanas/scum-manifesto/the-male-is-just.md) Topics: [men](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/men.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md), [psychology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/psychology.md) > You should write about take no-shit women like me. Girls need to know they can break the rules [Gloria Steinem](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem.md) · [My Life on the Road](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem/my-life-on-the-road.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem/my-life-on-the-road/you-should-write.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [rebellion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rebellion.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > I myself cried when I got angry, then became unable to explain why I was angry in the first place. Later I would discover this was endemic among female human beings. Anger is supposed to be "unfeminine" so we suppress it -until it overflows. I could see that not speaking up made my mother feel worse. This was my first hint of the truism that depression is anger turned inward; thus women are twice as likely to be depressed. My mother paid a high price for caring so much, yet being able to do so little about it. In this way, she led me toward am activist place where she herself could never go. [Gloria Steinem](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem.md) · [My Life on the Road](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem/my-life-on-the-road.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/gloria-steinem/my-life-on-the-road/i-myself-cried.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [anger](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/anger.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md), [depression](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/depression.md) > Women have been allowed to achieve individuality only though their appearance. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/women-have-been.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [appearances](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/appearances.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Feminism, in truth, has a cyclical momentum all its own. In the historical interpretation we have espoused, feminism is the inevitable female response to the development of a technology capable of freeing women from the tyranny of their sexual-reproductive roles – both the fundamental biological condition itself, and the sexual class system built upon, and reinforcing, this biological condition. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 31 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/feminism-in-truth.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [technology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/technology.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Because class oppression of women and children couched in the phraseology of "cute" it is much harder to fight than open oppression [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/because-class-oppression.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [children](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/children.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Constant erotic stimulation of male sexuality coupled with its forbidden release through most normal channels are designed to encourage men to look at women as only things whose resistance to entrance must be overcome. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/constant-erotic-stimulation.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [sex](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/sex.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Women throughout history before the advent of birth control were at the continual mercy of their biology - menstruation, menopause, and "female ills," constant painful childbirth, wetnursing and care of infants, all of which made them dependent on males (whether brother, father, husband, lover, or clan, government, community-at-large) for physical survival. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 8 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/women-throughout-history.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > To grant that the sexual imbalance of power is biologically based is not to lose our case. We are no longer just animals. And the Kingdom of Nature does not reign absolute. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 9 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/to-grant-that.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > If any revolutionary movement can succeed at establishing an egalitarian structure, radical feminism will. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 39 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/if-any-revolutionary.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > If we had to name the one cultural current that most characterizes America in the twentieth century, it might be the work of Freud and the disciplines that grew out of it. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/if-we-had.md) Topics: [America](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/america.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md), [psychology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/psychology.md) > It is everywhere. The division yin and yang pervades all culture, history, economics, nature itself: modern Western versions of sex discrimination are only the most recent layer. To so heighten one's sensitivity to sexism presents problems far worse than the black militant's new awareness of racism: Feminists have to question, not just all of Western culture, but the organization of culture itself, and further, even the very organization of nature. Many women give up in despair: if that's how deep it goes they don't want to know. Others continue strengthening and enlarging the movement, their painful sensitivity to female oppression existing for a purpose: eventually to eliminate it. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 2 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/it-is-everywhere.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Contemporary slang reflects this animal state: children are "mice," "rabbits," "kittens," women are called "chicks," (in England( "birds," "hens," "dumb clucks," "silly geese," "old mares," "bitches." Similar terminology is used about males as a defamation of character, or more broadly only about pressed males males: stud, wold, cat, stag, jack - and then it is used much more rarely, and often with a specifically sexual connotation. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/contemporary-slang-reflects.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [language](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/language.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > A revolutionary in every bedroom cannot fail to shake up the status quo. And if it’s your wife who is revolting, you can’t just split to the suburbs. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 38 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/a-revolutionary-in-every.md) Topics: [humor](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/humor.md), [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [rebellion](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/rebellion.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Sex class is so deep as to be invisible. Or it may appear as a superficial inequality, one that can be solved by merely a few reforms, or perhaps by the full integration of women into the labour force. But the reaction of the common man, woman, and child - 'That? Why you can't change that! You must be out of your mind!' - is the closest to the truth. ] [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 1 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/sex-class-is-so-deep.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [equality](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/equality.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Though the sex class system may have originated in fundamental biological conditions, this does not guarantee once the biological basis of their oppression has been swept away that women and children will be freed. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 10 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/though-the-sex.md) Topics: [women](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/women.md), [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md) > Freudianism has become, with its confessionals and penance, its proselytes and converts, with the millions spent on its upkeep, our modern Church. We attack only uneasily, for you never know, on the day of final judgement, whether might be right. Who can be sure that he is as healthy as he can get? Who is functioning at his highest capacity? And who not scared out of his wis? Who doesn't hate his mother and father? Who doesn't compete with his brother? What girl at some time did not wish she were a boy? And for those hardy souls who persist in their skepticism, there is always that dreadful persist in their skepticism, there is always that dreadful word resistance. They are the one who are sickest: it's obvious, they fight it so much. [Shulamith Firestone](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone.md) · [The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution.md) · p. 42 — [Quote page](https://www.leafyquotes.com/shulamith-firestone/the-dialectic-of-sex-the-case-for-feminist-revolution/freudianism-has-become.md) Topics: [feminism](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/feminism.md), [psychology](https://www.leafyquotes.com/topics/psychology.md)