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Quote by Marilyn French

“Patriarchy insists that some people are better than others because its primary reason for existing is to assert that men are superior to women. But because this claim is a falsehood, it is regularly challenged. States built on lies are insecure and are easily threatened; leaders must endlessly propagandise, insisting their lies are truths.”

Quote by Marilyn French

Work

From Eve to Dawn: A History of Women in the World, Vol. 1

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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

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“Patriarchy was conceived as a revolution against female domination; men pulled together against a sex described as inferior in order to usurp women's powers. But they did not really want women's powers: they did not want the responsibility for producing and raising children and the daily work of sustaining men. They wanted symbolic powers - ownership of children and women.”

“The assertion of female inferiority prepares the ground for men's subjection, because the principle of superiority ramifies endlessly. If one man can be superior to another, the second man may also be superior to a third, and so on. If men can be superior to women, some men can be superior to other men. Male solidarity attempts to blur that fact, to assert that "down deep" all men are brothers. But this ideal is far from realisation in this world - men are united only when they are opposed to women. Male superiority is a psychological core of patriarchy, but its political and economic purpose is the subjection of other men. Men have regularly rebelled against one ruler or another but have never rebelled against the principle of superiority - the only rebellion that can end the injustice and misery that arises from invidious distinctions - or generic discrimination.”

“There's a reason why men didn't see fit to allow women equal rights for so long, and why women were put through medical and sexual torture, force-fed, starved, lobotomised, incarcerated, why they were even burnt at the stake as witches, before basic human rights were granted to them. Something's gone wrong with men-kind. whether it's nature or nurture, time will tell, but their fury and violence towards non-submissive women is a chronic epidemic that comes in waves. This is your wave. We need you to fight in our corner, not theirs.”

“Transactivists claim that no man would go through the 'ordeal' of falsely claiming to identify as a woman, but is saying 'I'm a woman' in a society where everyone is treated as a hateful bigot unless they unquestioningly honour that statement really that difficult?”

“People who suffer oppression for their bodies, such as ethnic minorities, women, and the disabled, don't have the luxury to identify out of it. Yet, our institutions continue to promote the belief that the most oppressed group in history consists of healthy and often privileged people - such as white middle class men - who are self identifying into oppressed groups using the phrase 'born in the wrong body'. Thanks to not suffering the same limitations experienced by groups they wish to be part of, they exert immense influence on the regulators and these communities, where they position themselves as leaders and spokespeople. They are then redefining the aims and priorities of these groups and preventing genuine members from freely discussing issues that affect them.”