Here we have the best Feminism Quotes from famous authors such as Abi Morgan, Dana Loesch, Carolyn Kizer, Caitlin Moran, Julie Burchill. Find the perfect quotation from our collection.
Having a daughter has reawakened my sense of feminism. I want to protect her.
When feminism does not explicitly oppose racism, and when anti-racism does not incorporate opposition to patriarchy, race and gender politics often end up being antagonistic to each other, and both interests lose.
You had a generation of women, of which I’m part, where it was a stigma to be associated with feminism; there was a backlash. Now you have a generation that is clearly embracing feminism because, at the end of the day, the definition of feminism is just equality.
What, do you think that feminism means you hate men?
Words like feminism or democracy scare me. They are words with barnacles on them, and you can’t see what’s underneath.
In little more than a generation, feminism has obliterated roles. If you wonder why so many men choose not to get married, the answer lies in large part in the contemporary devaluation of the husband and of the father – of men as men, in other words.
Feminism to me means fighting. It’s a very nuanced, complex thing, but at the very core of it I’m a feminist because I don’t think being a girl limits me in any way.
It’s hard for men sometimes to talk about feminism, just as it’s hard for people who aren’t from ethnic minorities to talk about racial prejudice. It’s a difficult conversation to have, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have it.
I’m speaking for a bunch of girls when I say that the idea that feminism is completely natural and shouldn’t even be something that people find mildly surprising, it’s just a part of being a girl in 2013.
Feminism has always been a theme that I’m very interested in.
Feminism means something – legislation, cultural change – but ‘Girl Power’ meant nothing more than being friends with your friends.
Feminism is an entire world view or gestalt, not just a laundry list of women’s issues.
The young women waking up to feminism now already wake up to more consciousness than my generation had. Even just simple things like equal pay – before you went, in my generation, and asked for a raise, you went through nausea and your palms sweating.
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.
Why are we not valuing the word ‘feminism’ when there is so much work to be done in terms of empowerment and emancipation of women everywhere?
So, obviously, on International Women’s Day, we are honoring the achievements of women, but gender equality and feminism cannot evolve in our humanity if we’re not bringing our boys and men along.
Feminism wasn’t really at the top of my vocabulary. I think what’s been interesting for me – let me say this delicately – when I’ve been surrounded by men who don’t believe women are equal, I didn’t think women were equal, including myself.
We need everyone to be a feminist. Feminism is the fight for the equality of sexes, not for the domination of one sex over another.
Feminism isn’t simply about being a woman in a position of power. It’s battling systemic inequities; it’s a social justice movement that believes sexism, racism and classism exist and interconnect, and that they should be consistently challenged.
Feminism means, basically, are you in favor of equal opportunities for men and women? It’s hard to argue with that.
As I started to think about how I can claim feminism while also acknowledging my humanity and my imperfections, ‘bad feminism’ simply seemed like the best answer.
I get why feminism can be intimidating; sometimes it can seem like this exclusive club.
This idea of feminism as a party to which only a select few people get to come – this is why so many women, particularly women of colour, feel alienated from mainstream western academic feminism. Because don’t we want it to be mainstream?
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.
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.
Feminism is cancer.
I’m so interested in the feminism of women in American music. These ladies, going out on the road, way before the opportunities and advantages that I have – it was absolutely rough out there. The fact that they were still able to get their art out there and do what they’re doing is really impressive to me.
Feminism is hated because women are hated. Anti-feminism is a direct expression of misogyny; it is the political defense of women hating.
I think the history of western feminism is one that is fraught with racism, and I think it’s important to acknowledge that and, at the same time, to say that feminism is not the western invention, that my great-grandmother in what is now south-western Nigeria is feminist.
I was 15 when my family moved to Jidda from Britain in 1982. Living in Saudi Arabia was such a shock to my system that I like to say I was traumatized into feminism.
Horror stories give us a way of exhausting our emotions around social issues, like a woman’s right to an abortion, which I always thought was the core of ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ or the backlash against feminism which I always thought was the core to ‘Stepford Wives.’
My definition of feminism is a social, political, economic system by which all genders are valued, respected, and can live dignified lives.
I think feminism is about the spirit.
When we talk about feminism – equality without apology for all – we can’t be talking about for all white women or all highly educated women but all women, regardless of color, class, creed, sexual orientation or identity.
Though it’s safe to say there are a whole lotta American gals who agree with the core ideals of feminism, they are somehow nevertheless watching ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ by the millions.
My mother saw nothing inconsistent in her traditional desire to look after her husband and children and her radical politics. She began her civil rights work before most people had ever heard the word ‘feminism,’ and in those early years, she was focused on racial justice.
The issues that matter to women also matter to communities… and these issues have a ripple effect all across the country. And the purist sense of the feminist tradition – feminism is not anti-man. It is pro-humanity.
Conservatives still attack feminism with the absurd notion that it makes its adherents less attractive to men; in truth, it is feminism that has made forty-two-year-old women so desirable.
Feminism is not about girl power. It is about equal power.
I believe that feminism needs to teach more girls about how to make institutional changes and how to further engage men and boys into being our allies.
Feminism, to me, is nothing more and nothing less than the belief in equality for women.
I’m not a goddess, for crying out loud. I’m a regular person who took feminism – which I have a deep connection to – and mixed it with music, which I really love to do.
America may be the home of feminism, but I don’t think the electorate will allow a woman to be president.
When you read about the real history of where feminism comes from, it came from a very political point of view. I don’t believe in bringing any politics to an idea like feminism. I love the idea that women should be celebrated, but I also believe men should be, too. We need both – yin and yang.
I don’t think if you looked up all the main points of feminism I would tick every one essentially myself.
Sexual harassment law is very important. But I think it would be a mistake if the sexual harassment law movement is the only way in which feminism is known in the media.
Through the 1990s, ‘Reason’ was a voice of ‘dissident feminism,’ upholding the equal dignity of both sexes and supporting the rights of individuals against a government that had gone mad over sexual harassment.
Feminism, as it stands, well… stands. It has ground to a halt.
I am a sworn atheist and therefore from my point of view the Talmud or the Koran don’t constitute works of political philosophy but rather writings that stand in utter contradiction to concepts like logic, freedom, feminism, secularism, brotherhood – which are my ideals.
Every time a confident, successful woman like Marissa Meyer distances herself from feminism, I think of Athena. Athena women, with all their brilliance and strategy, are the ones smashing up through layers of glass. They tend to identify with men, keeping femininity at a distance.
‘Feminism’ is such an incredibly awkward word for us these days, isn’t it? Not to be feminist would be bizarre, wouldn’t it?
Feminism is being able to have the choice – the choice to be a CEO, to be an executive, to be a journalist, to be a congresswoman, to be a mother, a stay-at-home mother, to be a wife.
I think feminism’s a bit misinterpreted. It was about casting off all gender roles. There’s nothing wrong with a man holding a door open for a girl. But we sort of threw away all the rules, so everybody‘s confused. And dating becomes a sloppy, uncomfortable, unpleasant thing.
Feminism is a socialist, anti-family, political movement that encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.
Watching the progression and backlash against feminism even since 1970 will give you a serious case of whiplash.
My feminism is what came squarely up against my faith. There’s a lot of ecstatic post-patriarchal Christians who have stuff they do with that. But at that point, you’re doing Christianity with a double-superscript. The Bible, and especially the book of Genesis, is pretty unapologetically patriarchal.
I hope that by modeling feminism in my own life, work and relationships that it will haut become an organic part of my daughter’s life. But I’m also fully prepared for her to become a Republican as a way to rebel as a teenager – that would be just my luck!
I feel like as a teenager making music, I had a lot of internalised misogyny, a need to be one of the boys, and a lot of self-hatred. As I discovered what feminism is and what it meant to me, it definitely took a hold of my life in a big way.
I think feminism is the worst thing that ever happened to women. Our job used to be no job. We had it so good!
I consider myself a feminist because I believe women should have equal rights. Of course. It’s just that the term ‘feminism’ conjures up other things for people.
Feminism needs a political program because gender inequality has been fostered by political decisions.
And the first commandment of feminism is: I am woman; thou shalt not tolerate strange gods who assert that women have capabilities or often choose roles that are different from men’s.
If feminism wasn’t powerful, if feminism wasn’t influential, people wouldn’t spend so much time putting it down.
When people ask me do I believe in feminism – well, I didn’t even know I was a feminist. I was the top of the bill; I’ve always been the top of the bill. So I don’t know what equality is.
Having a monolithic view of feminism is suffocating.
The endless definitions for feminism are exhausting. It’s this, it isn’t this, it’s only this if you’re this, etc.
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.
It’s depressing that ambition and feminism have become almost dirty words for working women. But, there is no reason that they should be and, increasingly, I am struck by how the next generation is challenging conceptions of what it means to be successful at work.
I’ve thought about what is an alternative word to feminism. There isn’t one. It’s a perfectly good word. And it can’t be changed.
On YouTube, there’s a right-wing extremism funnel. You start by watching a college student ranting about how dumb feminism is. It’s wrong, but it’s not especially sinister. And then, three suggested videos later, you’re hearing about why we need a white ethno-state to save the race from a third-world invasion.
It’s only that we live in a patriarchal society, and therefore, the word ‘feminism’ has to be used as a counter to patriarchy. But feminism is about being equal. The word used should be ‘equalist,’ as it is about all humans being equal and respecting each other for that.
Feminism is for all women and girls, not a privileged few or one ethnicity, religion, age, sexual preference, ability, region or hemisphere.
If feminism was a dress, it would be that essential little black number, reached for in times of need; different for everyone but a steady constant in a woman’s life. Outspoken or understated, demure or provocative, worn to reflect the mood, the personality, the time.
Yes, the ’60s went too far, but we were trying to find new ways, better ways, to do things. And great seeds were planted: civil rights, the peace movement, the environmental movement, feminism. They’re big seeds. They take a long time to come to fruition. Please, let’s stop fighting, and get out our water cans.
When I just decided to be myself, that’s when you get questions like, ‘How do you feel about feminism?’ And I have no idea; this is just when I decide what I’m not tolerating and what I genuinely think and a little bit in between.
My feminism, as intended by me, extends to empowering women to make legal choices, not to judge the legal choices they make. My fight is for rights.
Feminism was about making women’s lives less constrained and giving them more choices.
I am not anti-men, I believe truly that we are meant to be equal. We should be judged equally and I think I am a living example of feminism.
Feminism isn’t just for women. It’s for men.
For me, feminism is about equality. So, when someone works for a Wall Street firm and says they’re a feminist, my eyes are going to roll.
I think that, unfortunately, people who are maybe threatened by feminism think that it’s about setting your bra on fire and being aggressive, and I think that’s really wrong and really dangerous.
I used to think feminism was a liberating force – now I see many of those people are just censors under a different name.
I, personally, do not consider myself to be some kind of Holy Mary of feminism.
Certain issues have been associated with contemporary feminism and in a certain sense circumscribed for that reason.
I don’t like this word, ‘Feminazis,’ or ‘libtard.’ I don’t like these words, because I feel there’s no true understanding of the word ‘feminism,’ there’s no understanding of the word ‘liberal,’ and I find these very derogatory and insulting.
The Left can have transgenderism or feminism, but it can’t have both.
The problem with feminism in the second wave was that we fought so much among ourselves, and I think we did so much damage to the movement… and I think the next wave, the third wave, is women mentoring younger women and women helping younger women to enter the political process and the writing world.
Some men feel threatened by the idea of feminism. This comes, I think, from the insecurity triggered by how boys are brought up, how their sense of self-worth is diminished if they are not ‘naturally‘ in charge as men.
I think talking is as casual as blogging, and sometimes writing can be as casual as talking. My informal writing style is a political choice, because I want feminism to be more accessible.
I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.
I think that there have been a lot of fear-based assertions that feminism is about aggression, and that is incorrect and untrue. Feminism is about equality; that’s what it’s about.
Out with stereotypes, feminism proclaims. But stereotypes are the west’s stunning sexual personae, the vehicles of art’s assault against nature. The moment there is imagination, there is myth.
Feminism is just an idea. It’s a philosophy. It’s about the equality of women in all realms. It’s not about man-hating. It’s not about being humorless. We have to let go of these misconceptions that have plagued feminism for 40, 50 years.
Has feminism made us all more conscious? I think it has. Feminist critiques of anthropological masculine bias have been quite important, and they have increased my sensitivity to that kind of issue.
‘I hate discussions of feminism that end up with who does the dishes,’ she said. So do I. But at the end, there are always the damned dishes.
I think there’s a misunderstanding that feminism is about bringing men down to bring women up and it’s certainly not that.
There’s a side of me that dislikes feminism. I think we surrendered something and women were unable to reveal any kind of vulnerability.
This is the problem with modern-day feminism. It used to be about equality. Now, it’s about bashing men, asking for free stuff, and tearing down other women for refusing to play victim to the trumped-up, B.S. ‘War on Women.’
There’s just as many different kinds of feminism as there are women in the world.
I’ve always thought feminism had a lot to say about both genders, as it is hard to talk about one without the other. I think men and women alike would benefit from men having a more fluid idea of what being a man is.
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.
Feminism isn’t about curating or policing the boundaries of womanhood.
The Myth of Male Power dealt much more with the political issues, the legal issues, sexual harassment, date rape, women who kill, and those issues were very much more interfaced with the agendas of feminism.
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.
I’ve always been interested in the history of radical feminism – what happened to those women of the 1960s and ’70s.
Obviously, the anti-ERA people are tickled about my ordeal because it proves that the ERA breaks up families. When they point out that feminism is a dangerous thing, I just say marriage is pretty precarious too.
Like feminism, I want to create systems and structures for the equity for all people, especially girls and women.
Multiculturalism and academic feminism started disparaging works of genius on the basis of their authors‘ sex and race.
Feminism is not only for women It’s something everyone can participate in, and evolve together, as the first step in the right direction. I see feminism as a tool to achieve that balance and peace.
We all fight over what the label ‘feminism’ means but for me it’s about empowerment. It’s not about being more powerful than men – it’s about having equal rights with protection, support, justice. It’s about very basic things. It’s not a badge like a fashion item.
Feminism is a word that I identify with. The term has become synonymous with vitriolic man-hating but it needs to come back to a place where both men and women can embrace it. It is particularly important for women in developing countries.
For me feminism is equality.
I get so many questions in interviews about feminism, and I think the second you start separating femininity and masculinity and giving one more power than the other, that’s like – everyone is a person.
It’s very important for feminism for us to tell our daughters that they should be strong. But to tell our sons that they can be vulnerable, to have these characters on screen that are not perfectly masculine cowboys that never fail, for our boys to change their psyche as well, that’s equally important for feminism.
I am for feminism. I stand up for women standing up for themselves in the same way I stand up for being black.
I got more and more politically active and just followed the course of feminism and sexual liberation.
Some of the biggest advocates for feminism seem to believe that in order to feel powerful you have to make another woman subservient, and that is not what feminism is about at all.
Feminism, unlike almost every other social movement, is not a struggle against a distinct oppressor – it’s not the ruling class or the occupiers or the colonizers – it’s against a deeply held set of beliefs and assumptions that we women, far too often, hold ourselves.
For decades, universities have nurtured the most lunatic forms of feminism, denying the biological differences between males and females, promoting the idea that Western civilization is endemically sexist, and encouraging in their students ever-more-delusional forms of victimhood.
In truth, I don’t care about making feminism more accessible to anyone.
Radical feminism is still threatening.
To me, feminism is such a simple description: it’s equal rights, economic rights, political rights, and social rights.
Being a feminist means asking for equality. But people take it the other way at times. It is looked down upon is because it is seen as man-hating. But, feminism is a really crazy idea that suggests men and women are equal.
I was never against marriage per se. Before feminism, I didn’t think you had any choice. In fact, for a long time I always assumed I would get married. I just didn’t see any marriages I wanted to emulate, so I kept putting it off.
My feminism is just part of my being – a part of my understanding of the world.
Feminism encourages women to leave their husbands, kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.
The struggle of democratic secularism, religious tolerance, individual freedom and feminism against authoritarian patriarchal religion, culture and morality is going on all over the world – including the Islamic world, where dissidents are regularly jailed, killed, exiled or merely intimidated and silenced.
The left ask people to believe that there is no conflict between feminism and the family.
You can’t market or commercialize feminism as an entity. One has to be careful. I aim to be about powerful women in my clothing.
People get really turned off by feminism.
The point of feminism is you shouldn’t have to be a man to be treated with equal respect.
Sotomayor’s vainglorious lecture bromide about herself as ‘a wise Latina‘ trumping white men is a vulgar embarrassment – a vestige of the bad old days of male-bashing feminism.
I came from this very traditional background and I benefited hugely from feminism. I felt privileged going to university and doing a PhD. Most people of my background don’t get to do that.
Fault lines run along color lines in American public life, and the women’s movement is no exception. Over the years, feminism has become more inclusive but there is still hard work to be done to include LGBT women and communities of color.
I think it was really entering my 30s that I began to embrace feminism and call myself a feminist.
I think that instead of feminism being a political thing, it should be an act of creativity. It’s more of a rock n’ roll thing.
The fact is, feminism is not what it used to be.
For women in, say, Alabama, ‘feminism’ is a dirty word. They would never march in the streets. But although they don’t think of themselves as the beneficiaries of feminism, they are.
I blame feminism and Facebook for the death of the American automobile. I’m a Republican, so I blame everything on feminism – or commies.
I never really considered myself much of a feminist until I left Wall Street. I did all the right things – such as put together gender-diverse teams – but feminism wasn’t deep in my bones.
‘Brooklyn Nine-Nine’ is an idealized, fun comedy world in which feminism is an underlying value that all the characters have. Equality is a value all the characters have. I mean, I want to live in that world. I’d like to make the world feel more like that, but I understand that it’s a fantasy.
We work to create a new wave of feminism that is more inclusive. I want others to feel equal. It’s so great to see women in positions of power, which is why other artists, such as Marilyn Minter, are so inspirational to me.
This is the real problem feminism faces. Too many people are willfully ignorant about what the word means and what the movement aims to achieve.
I’m a feminist; I grew up with feminism, but I also think there’s a way in which we need to shake things up so that we can push it further and in other directions.
My idea of feminism is self-determination, and it’s very open-ended: every woman has the right to become herself, and do whatever she needs to do.
Feminism is doomed to failure because it is based on an attempt to repeal and restructure human nature.
Feminism isn’t about hating men. It’s about challenging the absurd gender distinctions that boys and girls learn from childhood and carry into their adult lives.
I realise that women don’t want to get treated differently but just equally. I don’t know what feminism is all about, but I understand that women should be treated equally, and I endorse that thought.
I think the world is ambivalent about feminism. So I can’t blame college students. I think they’re reflecting the greater culture’s attitude toward feminism. So what I can do is, in ways that are appropriate, advocate for feminism and help the students learn what feminism is about.
Feminism – the word – can give us a handle, a rallying point, a common ground, and help us build a bridge. Why not claim the gift of the word as a place to begin?
One’s enemies are always talking about ‘post-feminism.’ It is a word invented by people who would like to do away with feminism.
In their ideological zeal, the feminists of the illiberal left don’t seem to realize how they’ve given feminism a bad name.
I think of feminism as more of a political ideology.
It’s tragic when people think feminism is a dirty word.
I am much more open about categories of gender, and my feminism has been about women’s safety from violence, increased literacy, decreased poverty and more equality.
As with ‘feminism,’ not to mention ‘liberalism‘ and ‘conservatism,’ ‘political correctness’ tends to mean what you want it to mean, which also pretty much amounts to utter meaninglessness.
Like George Sand, the feminism of the present day asserts the right of free thought against the creed of authority in every field; the solidarity of mankind and the cause of peace against the patriotism of militarism; social reform against the existing relations of society.
We all live in a time where we’re supposed to have choices and how do we wrangle that and how do we make the best choices for ourselves and our families. It has nothing to do with feminism.
Feminism… I think the simplest explanation, and one that captures the idea, is a song that Marlo Thomas sang, ‘Free to be You and Me.’
For whatever reason, various outlets and individuals are committed to making the world think that young girls don’t talk or care about feminism anymore, that it’s totally over. But it’s not.
As feminism becomes more integrated into mainstream publications and conversation, I feel weary of an obsession of celebrity culture masquerading as activism or as conversation or action. It’s clickbait.
I wish feminism wasn’t so scary to people. It should be an evolving concept. I think it’s an umbrella term to embrace conflicting ideas.
No, feminism isn’t ‘over.’ We need it not only to challenge injustice but because the whole gender expectations thing is bad for men, too.
In every generation and in every intellectual sphere and in every political moment, there have been African American women who have articulated the need to think and talk about race through a lens that looks at gender or think and talk about feminism through a lens that looks at race.
I was trying to uphold what I thought feminism was as best I could by supporting women, by trying to create an opportunity to get women to get together, play music together and celebrate the fact that we are having great success making music on our own and together.
Feminism is so pertinent – it affects all of us. As a woman you have an instinct to question sexual politics, we have a responsibility to care.
The great thing about modern feminism is that women can define what it means to them: it can mean being ambitious, it can mean being emotional, it can mean being sensitive and compassionate and also a leader. It can mean all those things.
Every woman, whether or not they’re comfortable with the term ‘feminist,’ probably wants to be equal to men, and that is fundamentally what feminism is about.
Although I often find that the feminist rhetoric – not feminism – can come across as simple-minded, self-regarding, nuance-averse and reductive – biology to physiology, history to psychology, procreation to gynecology, and so on – I have come to realize that we should all be feminists.
