Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Marilyn French

Quote by Marilyn French

“The first mention of prostitution comes from Sumer, where priests prostituted female captives and slaves to draw men and money to the temples. From the first, prostitution was designed to profit men.”

Quote by Marilyn French

Create image

Author

Marilyn French
Marilyn French

Marilyn French, born on November 21, 1929 and died on May 2, 2009, was a prominent American author known for her feminist perspective in her works. Her writings focused on the status of women in society, family, and sexuality, with notable works including 'The Feminine Mystique'. more

You May Also Like

“Female maturity is evident in the onset of menstruation; nothing signals male maturity. When a boy becomes capable of erection, he may or may not yet be able to father a child. The ambiguity of male maturity, together with the lack of a given role that it seems to indicate, is precisely the problem male solidarity is intended to counter.”

ReligionFeminismSexismMisogynyWomen S RightsWomen S LiberationRadical FeminismWomen S History
Book:From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Vol. 1
Create image

“Isolated, confined, allowed only small amounts of certain foods and drink, taught that her body is powerful but contaminated, a girl learns that she has power - to pollute: in such cultures, menstrual blood is a source of horror and fear. Menstruation symbolises female power, considered destructive to men. If female power can destroy men, women are men's enemies, and the condition of the sexes is a state of war.”

ReligionFeminismSexismMisogynyWomen S RightsWomen S LiberationRadical FeminismWomen S History
Book:From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Vol. 1
Create image

“Rituals were designed to protect men from Earth's retribution, and it has been suggested that after the invention of horticulture, humans began to attribute creation to a deity above nature, rather than within it, to a male God rather than a female Goddess.”

ReligionFeminismSexismMisogynyWomen S RightsWomen S LiberationRadical FeminismWomen S History
Book:From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Vol. 1
Create image

“Patrilinies are founded on domination. To own children, men must guarantee their paternity, which requires them to guard women's bodies, claiming to own them. This claim turns women into men's possessions. Controlling another requires force, so patrilineality permits or encourages brutality towards women. Such behaviour makes for bad relations between the sexes. Brutality is rare in matrilinies, where women are surrounded by kin; men invented patrilocality to control women.”

ReligionFeminismSexismMisogynyWomen S RightsWomen S LiberationRadical FeminismWomen S History
Book:From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Vol. 1
Create image

“Myths rarely offer facts, only metaphors for political or social forces, but myths about former female powers would not exist if men had always controlled women. If men always controlled women, their domination would need to explanation or justification, but would seem natural. Myths of once powerful females are amazingly universal.”

ReligionFeminismSexismMisogynyWomen S RightsWomen S LiberationRadical FeminismWomen S History
Book:From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Vol. 1
Create image

“Once the mechanisms of patrilineality, patrilocality, and exogamy were in place, it was difficult for women to escape. In time, men in some groups raised vying for status to an organising principle, competing to show their importance within the group and generating "Big man" societies. These societies fostered the rise of the state and its sociopolitical form - patriarchy.”

ReligionFeminismSexismMisogynyWomen S RightsWomen S LiberationRadical FeminismWomen S History
Book:From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Vol. 1
Create image

“The term " Patriarchy" denotes institutionalised male dominance, guaranteed by a set of interlocking structures that perpetuate the power and authority of an elite class of men over all other humans and grant all men power and authority over women of their class. Power is might - physical, psychological, or economic. Animals may dominate other animals by virtue of birth or charisma. But authority - a moral or spiritual right (tactically backed by force) to judge others and coerce behaviour - does not exist among animals. Authority is insidious because we tend to internalise it: we feel guilt at performing acts called wrong by authorities, even if we ourselves do not believe them wrong.”

ReligionFeminismSexismMisogynyWomen S RightsWomen S LiberationRadical FeminismWomen S History
Book:From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Vol. 1
Create image