Feminists Quotes

Feminists Quotes by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Hanna Rosin, Deeyah Khan, Ellen Barkin, Janet Mock, Ellen Key and many others.

Most days I struggle just to be accepted into the camp of plain old feminists. This is mainly because I am not by nature ideological and generally suspicious of people who are.
Freedom of expression is essential for feminists and dissidents in the Muslim world.
I’m not limited by my gender, and I don’t think anyone else should be either. Because I am the age I am and I sort of rode the crest of the first profound post-suffragette feminists, I wasn’t fighting to burn my bra. Those women fought that fight just seconds before I came into womanhood.
Reproductive rights are about body and medical autonomy: our collective and deeply personal right to choose what we want to do to/with our bodies. Trans people and feminists should be building natural alliances here.
If, in the coming thousand years, a feminine culture shall really supplement the masculine, then this will be exactly in the measure in which women have the courage to create and to act as most feminists now do not even dare think.
Feminists are now amongst the most obnoxious bigots.
I think women have always been funny. But when Tina Fey became head writer at ‘Saturday Night Live,’ the culture shifted, and women gained a bigger voice in comedy. It’s not as if Hollywood producers are feminists. It’s more that Hollywood said, ”Bridesmaidsmade us so much money, all we want now is funny women.’
Feminists declare that men and women are equal in all respects. They petulantly decry any atavistic male courtesy towards females as a relic of a still oppressive patriarchal culture.
My own belief is all men should be feminists, and with enthusiasm.
Women who can, do. Those who can’t become feminists.
Feminists don’t honor successful women. You never hear them talking about Margaret Thatcher. Take Condoleezza Rice. She‘s a remarkable, successful woman. You don’t hear the feminists talk about her or Carly Fiorina or Jeanne Kirkpatrick.
For years, the feminists thought of me as an army sergeant. I was too macho for them.
To avoid being mistaken for a sellout, I chose my friends carefully. The more politically active black students. The foreign students. The Chicanos. The Marxist professors and structural feminists and punk-rock performance poets.
It’s a controversial issue: many feminists reasonably worry that by taking the concentration off gender as an independent locus of oppression, we dilute the strength of a women’s movement, or of women’s rights advocacy.
If we want to create change, we all have to be feminists – men, women, everyone needs to acknowledge that. Sometimes I have more in common with the man than I do the woman in the room.
I am failing as a woman. I am failing as a feminist. To freely accept the feminist label would not be fair to good feminists. If I am, indeed, a feminist, I am a rather bad one. I am a mess of contradictions.
Feminists, I hasten to add, are not all bad. In fact, they are an ideal bellwether, an invaluable aid in helping me form opinions on issues that I don’t have time to keep up with. If the feminists are for it, I’m against it; if the feminists are against it, I’m for it.
It’s strange: There are feminists who like Barstool and then feminists who hate Barstool.
Because, in fact, women, feminists, do read my poetry, and they read it often with the power of their political interpretation. I don’t care; that’s what poetry is supposed to do.
Who laughs less than feminists?
We’re not hard-core feminists. We like men and we like to have fun with them. But we also want men to think about females in different ways.
When I was much younger, I sometimes felt rejected by feminists because of an image that I sold because it paid the bills. Any fool could tell my hair is dyed.
Men are born privileged in the scale of things – I’m generalizing, but it’s true. Women have to define themselves in the eyes of men. They have to fight for their rights, especially in a society that will pretend that there is no fight or no battle, that it’s a cliche, that feminists are reactionary, all these things.
I am more feminist than feminists.
We take a lot for granted as second wave feminists, what our mothers and aunts did for us.
I remember being called ‘feminazi’ and all that. I’m so proud of these young women who are coming out and not afraid to say they are feminists.
People feel feminists are aggressive, men-hating women with a little moustache. I think it’s got a bad reputation because when feminism came into being, we were facing so much opposition that we had to be strident and aggressive.
The media has bought into the whole social revolution, the Kinsey ideas, and has been completely taken over by the feminists. And the feminists, I think, are the most destructive elements in our society.
I think feminists are unaware of the tremendous extent of the role of women in history.
Earlier feminists were almost universally pro-choice and have dominated political debate until now. Having access to abortion was viewed as the only way women could have full equality with men, who, until recently, couldn’t get pregnant.
If you look at the 1960s, Hemingway was viewed on the basis of the myth of his lifestyles rather than viewing his work. Machismo was badly viewed; feminism was becoming a more noble cause. I think the feminists took him apart and assumed he mistreated women.
I think I can speak for all four of us on the show here. We all consider ourselves to be feminists and we get very upset when people don’t think we are. We’re like, where did this come from? Of course we are.
We have to believe that we can hold different points of view without labeling each other bad feminists.
It’s easier to sit there and say you don’t like feminists because they don’t have a sense of humor.
I’m not technically brand-friendly to feminists.
The feminists taught us about consciousness-raising.
Strangely, while illiberal feminists treat conservative women as men in drag, men who identify as women are treated as women.
Until feminists started wailing about the female‘s passivity, submissiveness, and something called ‘victim status,’ I had no idea women were such doormats. My childhood was populated by Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Pearl Buck, Marie Curie, Clare Boothe Luce, and the Duchess of Windsor.
International Women’s Day, if it is to claim any kind of political relevance, has to reject ladiesChristmas consumerism and lowest-common-denominator universalism. Look beyond the pink beer and pyjamas; as feminists we need to be concerned with payslips and passports.
For women, we intend to do something in a noble and missionary spirit… We mean to appeal to their intellects… and we hereby announce ourselves as determined and bigoted feminists.
I’m thankful for the work that feminists like Gloria Steinem have done. I am a feminist, but the geography for women today is vastly different than it was in the ’60s.
Feminists say no-fault divorce was a large hurdle on the path to female liberation. They apparently don’t consult the deepest hopes or greatest fears of young women.
Today, unless women gain jobs and athletic scholarships commensurate with their percentage of the population, feminists scream discrimination.
I think we should all call ourselves feminists.
People like to think of feminists as angry.
There can be people who are feminist, and people who hold the completely opposite view but are still feminists. It seems to me from the outside that there’s a lot of people busy fighting each other rather than working toward their goals. It’s a shame.
Feminists wish women to seem like men. They’re not men.
People don’t want to think… I mean, they don’t! They just want to say, ‘Oh, okay, feminists are humorless man-haters,’ and that’s simply not the case. There are radical people and radical ideas in absolutely every movement, but that doesn’t mean they define the ideals.
In the late sixties, when revolution and upheaval were everywhere, feminists were ridiculed for focusing on housework.
If you’re unhappy with your circumstances, then change them. Don’t blame the government or your boss or the guy down the street who’s better looking than you (exceptions include Hugh Jackman and George Clooney). Just take some Pepto-Bismol and be a man (or woman, for all of you bullish feminists).
Do feminists have a sense of humor? Yes.
A lot of women are turned off by the physical appearance of some of the first feminists.
Whatever feminists may say about their only advocating choices, everyone knows the truth: Feminism regards work outside the home as more elevating, honorable, and personally productive than full-time mothering and homemaking.
Like many traditional feminists, I became one of the boys, only better. For a while it gave me a buzz to win at their game, but ultimately, that kind of power just goes nowhere. Traditional feminism excludes men and so perpetuates conflict. I am not interested in warring about power.
Whatever feminists may say about their only advocating choices, everyone knows the truth: Feminism regards work outside the home as more elevating, honorable, and personally productive than full-time mothering and making a home.
I think that all women, unless they are absolutely asleep, must be feminists up to a point.
I’ll be on the street and go up to people – ‘Have you read a comic book before? Well, here’s one.’ You’ve got your pro-life people, your pro-choice people, your feminists. I’m a comicbooks activist.
It seems the feminists are all about female freedom of expression so long as the female is overweight or transgender. You can’t pick and choose what type of women fit your agenda.
Women born and raised on this fragile planet have more uniting us than dividing us – and it’s the job of feminists to help us realise that.
Feminists are in an untenable position, defending something they no longer believe in, and which history will force them to recognize was destructive of most of the central pillars of civilization. I’m just the first one to point it out publicly.
Feminists bore me to death. I follow my instinct and if that supports young girls in any way, great. But I’d rather they saw it more as a lesson about following their own instincts rather than imitating somebody.
The stereotypes of feminists as ugly, or man-haters, or hairy, or whatever it is – that’s really strategic. That’s a really smart way to keep young women away from feminism, is to kind of put out this idea that all feminists hate men, or all feminists are ugly; and that they really come from a place of fear.
Leaving sex to the feminists is like letting your dog vacation at the taxidermist.
The feminists who are aware of the effects of patriarchy realize that we are all in the same boat from the dangers of patriarchy, and that the oppression of women is universal.
Bra-burning never happened. It was completely made up by the media. A couple of women protesting a Miss America pageant threw some bras into a garbage can, and somehow that became this longstanding idea of feminists as bra-burners.
The pure connecting factor is that those of us who describe ourselves as feminists want equal rights for all people.
In America and in most of the industrialized world, men are coming to be thought of by feminists in very much the same way that Jews were thought of by early Nazis. The comparison is overwhelmingly scary.
I’m criticized by the feminists, by the Jewish establishment, by Canadian nationalists. And why not? I’ve had my pot shots at them. I’m fair game.
We always had a lot of admiration for feminists who were out there trying to change things for the better for women, who were trying to find equality in the workplace and at home.
Feminists cried, ‘Sexism!’ when New York Senator Hillary Clinton was judged not by the content of her character but by the color of her pantsuits.
I understand this fear of the word ‘feminism,’ and I understand the fear of saying it because it becomes as divisive as ‘sexism‘ has become. But I know a lot of male feminists.
It’s an amusing idea to some, this feminism thing – this audacious notion that women should be able to move through the world as freely, and enjoy the same inalienable rights and bodily autonomy, as men. At least, that’s the impression given when feminism and feminists are all too often the targets of lazy humor.
I am tired of angry feminists. I like my women happy, gregarious… and bathed.
Fifth Harmony are all feminists. It’s our duty to reach out to people and let them know a woman can be just as powerful as a man can be.
Feminists are like the Borg from ‘Star Trek.’ They don’t know anything about other groups beyond the fact that they need to be assimilated into a hivemind that mindlessly follows the orders of a Queen.
I always give the opposite advice of all the feminists: I say you must get your education or decide what you want to do in that regard, but then get your love life in order.
Illiberal feminists turn simple ideological disagreements, whether about the federal budget or the Second Amendment or anything else, into excuses to engage in character assassination, dismissing their opponents as sexists.
Young feminists have been sold a bill of goods about American feminism. The enormous changes in women over the past 40 years are constantly and falsely attributed to the organized women’s movement of the late 1960s and ’70s.
Most of the well-known American feminists of the 19th century did not come out against the institution of marriage.
We’re feminists. We’re doing something that only guys are expected to do and doin’ it right! At our concerts we’ll do one hard-core rap song and then do one where we’ll be real sexy.
Women’s writing was coming along fine until feminists came along and turned it into Women’s Lit.
One of the achievements of our generation of feminists was to emancipate women from the division between being interested in clothes and appearance, and being serious and ambitious. I am of the first generation that could go to Biba, wear miniskirts and get a degree.
Because religion has such a compelling hold on the deep psyches of so many people, feminists cannot afford to leave it in the hands of the fathers.
Historians who write about families are usually feminists who think in terms of gender relations.
We’re never going to come to a moment where all of us who claim to be feminists can agree about what the first priority of feminism is.
I think that the same kind of openness and fluidity and willingness to interrogate power that we, as feminists, expect from men in alliance on questions of class should also be the expectation that women of colour can rely upon with our white feminist allies.
Take motherhood: nobody ever thought of putting it on a moral pedestal until some brash feminists pointed out, about a century ago, that the pay is lousy and the career ladder nonexistent.
Some feminists have this party-line attitude, and they can be very extremist. The most enlightened characters in my film are women.
I’m a very bad Christian, but I am a Christian. I think that all women, unless they are absolutely asleep, must be feminists up to a point. And socialist, well yes, of course, it’s not a fashionable word, but I am very much of the Left.
Radical feminists are often highly conservative in many areas except for women’s rights, and LGBT activists can be the same.
Men can be feminists.
Feminists are asking the practical questions about how you want to live your life.
Feminists are disappointed in each other a lot, a natural side effect of being involved in a movement, which naturally implies that progress toward the ultimate goal is the only measure of success and that setbacks are always disasters.
Young women are still looking for a prince on a white charger to come over the hill or for Mr. Rochester to appear. We all pretend we’re right-on feminists, but underneath that, there’s still the bedrock of romance.
Socialists find me too far left; Trotskyites not far enough; ecologists say I am too happy eating foie gras, defending nuclear energy and GM plants; feminists find I am not enough of a woman; anarchists a petit-bourgeois who has sold out because I believe in universal suffrage.
When illiberal feminists aren’t delegitimizing female dissenters from their worldview as fake women, they are portraying them in such a hyper-sexualized way that they are reduced to nonhuman objects.
Not to get too deep, but I was brought up by these women who if you wanted to label them, maybe they were feminists, but you know what? They never asked for that or wanted it and they never got up on a soapbox and spoke about it, they just did it. They did their work, they did their jobs, they were who they were.
I remember being on a red carpet and they put the mic to us and asked ‘are you feminists?’ and we panicked. We were so terrified to speak back then.
I think being a feminist is to each her own. It’s kind of like asking someone what being a woman means to them. We should all be feminists. We should all want equality.
As feminists, we have to become more tolerant of each other’s differences because we are essentially working towards the same goal.
Any woman’s right to self-identify is a personal freedom I fight for, and those women who claim trans women are not women are perpetuators of gender-based oppression, and all feminists should be upset and moved to action against this.
If we’re for one another, we’re feminists. The rest is semantics.
I’d guess that 80 percent of the people who work for Playboy are feminists.
Until the mid-seventies, the traditional or classic lesbian was always a spinster and often a tweedy intellectual, with a stark glamour that titillated men and women alike. This is the woman that feminists destroyed when they pressured the media for ‘positive images‘ of lesbians.
Our mothers’ generation fought so hard to change things and we’re the first generation to benefit. And now you get girls in their twenties who say they’re not feminists.
Any woman who has ever worked in a gutsy male environment knows that the correct response to a randy remark is an even more salacious retort. But timid feminists don’t see it that way. To them, the proper reply is a lawsuit – that safe, modern version of the old slap in the face.
Certainly there’s a huge appeal to the ’60s, because it was such a big turning point to everyone. It was the era of change, the boiling point. People rebelled against things – the hippies, the feminists, the protesters. All these things just built up and boiled over. I think people can relate to that today.
Women always go through the door first. Even ardent feminists would admit it’s nice. It’s not an acknowledgment of women as the weaker sex; it’s perhaps an acknowledgment of women as the stronger sex.