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Gloria Steinem

Gloria Steinem Quotes

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Famous Gloria Steinem Quotes

“The first problem for all of us, men and woman, is not to learn, but to unlearn. We are filled with the popular wisdom of several centuries just past, and we are terrified to give it up. Patriotism means obedience, age means wisdom, woman means submission, black means inferior: these are preconceptions imbedded so deeply in our thinking that we honestly may not know that they are there.”

ThinkingKnowsMenGivingFirstsMayMeanProblemAgePastBlackChangeLearningCenturyFilledHonestlyObedienceBigotryInferiorsTerrifiedSubmissionPreconceptionsUnlearn
Author:Gloria Steinem
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“Economics anxiety may be even more common than the often identified 'math anxiety,' for unlike math, which has its personal uses, economics is seen as a mysterious set of forces manipulated from above.”

MayUseForceCommonAnxietyEconomicsMathMysterious
Book:Moving Beyond Words: Essays on Age, Rage, Sex, Power, Money, Muscles: Breaking the Boundaries of Gender
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“The premise of most media is that only conflict is newsworthy. And that's just not true. I think for a lot of men, too - certainly for most women - there's enough real conflict without manufacturing it. The media formula is always to have a pro and con, to say there are two sides to any issue, when in fact there may be ten sides.”

ThinkingMenMayTwoRealEnoughFactsSidesIssuesMediaTenConflictFormulasPremisesManufacturingTwo SidesPros And ConsNewsworthy
Author:Gloria Steinem
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“The gender prism is just descending upon us. For instance, when we're girls of nine or 10 we may be climbing trees and saying, "I know what I want. I know what I think." And then suddenly at 11 or 12, the gender role takes hold, and adults tell us, "How clever of you to know what time it is." It happens to boys, too and even sooner - between five and eight. Before that, boys cry and express uncertainty.”

ThinkingKnowsWantMayHappensGirlBoysRolesFiveTreeCryAdultsEightGenderCleverNineInstanceUncertaintyClimbingGender RolesDescendingPrismsClimbing Trees
Author:Gloria Steinem
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“When you stand up for yourself and try to be autonomous and self-determining, you're called a lot of names that we all know and that are very common. You may lose your job. You may lose custody of your child. You may be blamed for the failure of your marriage even though it was the man who couldn't tolerate an equal relationship.”

KnowsMenTryingMayChildrenSelfJobsNamesLosesCommonHe ManEqualOur ChildrenYour ChildrenTolerateAutonomousCustodyStand Up For Yourself
Author:Gloria Steinem
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“I'm not saying that all women are blameless - all women are not. There are women with despicable characters who are cruel and terrible and some of them are mothers. But why do we blame our mothers more than our fathers? We let our fathers get away scot-free. We hardly even knew who they were in many cases, given the way this culture raises kids, and they may have been quite cruel. They may even have raped us as children, but even if they raped us, we will blame our mothers for not protecting us instead of blaming our fathers who actually did it.”

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Author:Gloria Steinem
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“For much of the female half of the world, food is the first signal of our inferiority. It lets us know that our own families may consider female bodies to be less deserving, less needy, less valuable.”

KnowsWorldFirstsMayBodyHalfFoodFemaleFeministValuableSignalsDeservingInferiorityNeedyFemale BodyDeserving It
Book:Passion, Politics, and Everyday Activism: Collected Essays: Moving Beyond Words; Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions; and Revolution from Within
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“It still may take some explaining, but many more women are keeping their birth names (and not calling them maiden names, with all the sexual double standards that implies).”

MayStillsNamesJusticeBirthCallingStandardsSocial JusticeExplainingMaidensDouble StandardMaiden Names
Book:Passion, Politics, and Everyday Activism: Collected Essays: Moving Beyond Words; Outrageous Acts and Everyday Rebellions; and Revolution from Within
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