“How unfair society was! Male employees had to pretend to be capable of doing things they couldn’t do, while female employees had to pretend to be incapable of doing things they actually could do. Over the years, how many women had seen their talents magically disappear in that way? How many men had seen talents they didn’t possess magically summoned into existence?”
Source: Where the Wild Ladies Are
“Para ser una sociedad con una estructura descaradamente patriarcal y una cultura que a menudo era furiosamente misógina, a los antiguos romanos les encantaba educar a las mujeres. Parece que en los siglos I antes y después de Cristo (la época mejor documentada) un número significativo de ciudadanas, incluidas algunas que no pertenecían a la élite, estaban en parte alfabetizadas. Varios escritores mencionan, sin mostrar sorpresa, que tanto niñas como niños asistían a las escuelas elementales de precio medio que enseñaban a leer, escribir, aritmética y, en ocasiones, las bases de la literatura a los hijos de las clases medias-altas en las esquinas sombreadas de los foros de las ciudades italianas. Fragmentos de los grafitis de Pompeya, garabateados en los muros de los espacios públicos de las ciudades ("Rómula se tiró aquí a Estafilo", "Serena odia a Isidoro" "Atimeto me dejó preñada") sugieren que algunas mujeres de estratos sociales más bajos podían al menos escribir nombres y unas pocas frases.”
Source: Messalina: Empress, Adulteress, Libertine: The Story of the Most Notorious Woman of the Roman World
“Ike Ryan had a theory about making a girl become part of an orgy. You make her do it with you, then with a friend while you watch, then with another girl—and by then you've cut her down to size. Once she's gone along with that scene, she can't play games—none of that "send me flowers" jazz. You've reduced her to what every woman is, once you've stripped off the fancy manners: a broad.”
Source: The Love Machine
“In one way, the whole official culture of the Islamic Republic was on guard to control women. In another way it was the women setting boundaries on men. Instead of the old context where male space was public but dangerous, and women’s space was safe but private, now whole segments of public space were reserved for women.”
Source: Mother Persia: Women in Iran's History
“You would think women would want to stick together when there weren't that many of them, but they never did. It was as if being a woman was a disease that you didn't wish to catch. As long as you didn't associate with the other women, you could imply to the majority, the men: I'm not like those other ones.”
Source: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
“This is one of the many truths that she understood but failed to accept: that men are rewarded for destroying life and women for creating it. But that seems to be in the nature of all dualities, for how can we see the radiance of goodness when there is no shadow of evil to set it off?”
Source: So Long Been Dreaming: Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy
“Whereas man grows old gradually, woman is suddenly deprived of her femininity; she is still relatively young when she loses the erotic attractiveness and the fertility which, in the views of society and in her own, provide the justification for her existence and her opportunity for happiness.”
Source: The Second Sex
“In popular Islam as most Iranians know it, various female saints are deeply revered, and spiritual women are well respected. Their powers, however, seem to be personal, not institutional. Female leaders are seen as inspirational, but not authoritative. Male clerics are generally accepted as the definers of religion, but probably most people’s actual values and world views are more shaped by their mothers or grandmothers. ... As in popular religion almost everywhere, loving care, personal aspiration, and moral decency are usually better respected than institutional authority.”
Source: Mother Persia: Women in Iran's History
“Sometimes, gentle words of a woman can give a man great encouragement.”
Source: The Lost Son (Second Edition): A Thrilling Young Adult Epic Fantasy Adventure
“You don't have the right to complain about your life if you're not willing to change it”
Source: Feel At Home: Home Staging Secrets for a Quick and Easy Sell