“There aren't a lot of female story artists, and it's baffling to me. There are a lot of kids in school that are female and I wonder, 'Where did they all go?' People have brought it up, asking me, 'What did you do?' I don't really know. I puttered along, did my thing and gender has really never been an issue.” PeopleKnowsStoriesKidsSchoolArtistWonderIssuesFemaleAskingGender Author:Jennifer Yuh Nelson
“Intensive mothering is the ultimate female Olympics: We are all in powerful competition with each other, in constant danger of being trumped by the mom down the street, or in the magazine we're reading. The competition isn't just over who's a good mother--it's over who's the best. We compete with each other; we compete with ourselves. The best mothers always put their kids' needs before their own, period.” NeedsKidsMotherReadingPowerfulStreetsDangerMomPeriodsFemaleUltimateConstantCompetitionMotherhoodMagazinesOlympicsMotheringGood MotherBest Mother Author:Susan J. Douglas
“Crime is a very hard genre to feminise. If you have a female protagonist she is going to be looking after her mum when she gets older; she is going to be worried about her brother and sister; she will be making a living while bringing up kids.” IfsHardKidsCrimeBrotherFemaleWorriedGenreMumBrothers And SistersProtagonistsMaking A LivingFemale Protagonists Author:Denise Mina
“In much the same way, motherhood has become the essential female experience, valued above all others: giving life is where it's at. Give birth in cities where accommodation is precarious, schools have surrendered the fight and children are subject to the most vicious mental assault through advertising, TV, internet, fizzy drink manufacturers and so on. Without children you will never be fulfilled as a woman, but bringing up kids in decent conditions is almost impossible.” WayGivingChildrenKidsSchoolLife IsFightingCitiesImpossibleConditionsSubjectsTvsBirthInternetDrinkEssentialsFemaleMotherhoodAdvertisingDecentFulfilledAssaultViciousPrecariousAccommodations Author:Virginie Despentes
“The center of life is female - we all come from our mothers. I've always drawn women or female spirits. I feel deeply about this - who gives a damn about some guy on a cross? My mother's creativity was smothered after she married and raised a family, but she was supportive of me - even my father expected me to carry on in her footsteps. I prefer to have no kids but lots of animals.” GivingFeelsKidsLife IsSpiritMotherGuyFatherAnimalCreativityMarriedFemaleCrossesRaisedExpectedDamnSupportiveFootsteps Author:Vali Myers
“The "female culture" has shifted more rapidly than the "male culture"; the image of the go-get 'em woman has yet to be fully matched by the image of the let's take-care-of-the-kids- together man. More important, over the last thirty years, men's underlying feelings about taking responsibility at home have changed much less than women's feelings have changed about forging some kind of identity at work.” MenYearsKindImportantFeelingsHomeCareKidsTogetherLastsCultureWomenResponsibilityIdentityChangedFemaleMalesTake CareThirtyEmsTaking ResponsibilityThirty YearsMatchedForging Author:Arlie Russell Hochschild
“When I was a kid. I never really had luck with the ladies my early years in high school. Then I started singing and I found that helped, so I would go in the talent show every year. It was always some female singer that would go up there and blast out some Celine Dion classic and just blow me away.” YearsShowsKidsSchoolFoundTalentSingingHigh SchoolFemaleLuckBlowSingersClassicBlastTalent ShowCelineFemale Singers Author:Paolo Nutini
“The fictitious worlds created for kids are nearly bereft of female presence. It's sending a very clear message from the beginning that women and girls do not have half of the adventures, that they're not as important. We're teaching kids that girls and women don't take up half the space in the world.” WorldImportantKidsGirlSpaceHalfClearTeachingAdventureMessagesFemaleThat GirlBereftTeaching Kids Author:Geena Davis
“The issue of motherhood is no longer salient. In fact, the very first female bomber for Hamas posed in her last will and testament video with her two kids.” FirstsTwoFactsKidsLastsIssuesFemaleMotherhoodVideoTestamentHamasBombersWills And Testaments Author:Mia Bloom
“Because I had some roles that resonated with women, I immediately noticed that there were far more male characters than female characters in what we're showing little kids in the 21st century, which was stunning to me. But I couldn't find anybody else who noticed.” LittlesCharacterKidsRolesCenturyFemaleMales21st CenturyLittle KidStunningFemale Characters Author:Geena Davis
“Ultimately, I felt fortunate, because in many ways I did identify with aspects of being gay that were very stereotypical. I was a big theatre kid in high school, I was creative, I was very emotionally sensitive, even hypersensitive. I loved female divas.” WayBigsKidsSchoolFeltCreativeGayHigh SchoolFemaleAspectTheatreFortunateSensitiveBeing Gay Author:Christopher Rice
“My daughter was a toddler. I had no idea there was anything wrong with kids' media.I started watching little preschool shows with her or G-rated videos or whatever; I couldn't believe what I was seeing, that there seemed to be far more male characters than female characters in what we make for little kids. It was just a shock.” BelieveLittlesIdeasCharacterShowsKidsSeeingMediaDaughterFemaleMalesVideoNo IdeaShockMy DaughterLittle KidFemale CharactersToddlerPreschool Author:Geena Davis
“I just started asking my friends if they had noticed. None of them - feminists, mothers, daughters - noticed until I pointed it out. Then I decided to bring it up within the industry. I knew a lot of people, so I'd say, "Have you ever noticed how few female characters there are in kids movies?" when I met a director, a producer, whatever. And they said, "Oh, but that's not true anymore."” PeopleIfsSaidCharacterKidsMotherIndustryMetsDirectorsDaughterMy FriendsFemaleDecidedAskingFeministProducersThey SaidFemale CharactersMother DaughterKids Movie Author:Geena Davis
“I was spurred by the fact that having worked for women's magazines myself as a journalist, if you go off and interview a female celebrity, I'd just go in and interview them like I'd interview any human being and talk about the things that interested me. And you'd come back, and you'd file your copy. And then my editor would read through my copy and go, why haven't you asked them if they want kids? And I'd be like, well, I don't know, I interviewed Aerosmith last week. And I didn't ask them that.” IfsKnowsWantHumansWellsFactsKidsLastsAsksHuman BeingsWeekHavensFemaleMagazinesJournalistInterviewsCopiesEditorsFilesAerosmith Author:Caitlin Moran
“Until you have looked in depth at the system and found out where women in Egypt are not being cut through female genital mutilation, or where kids in Vietnam are not malnourished, or where hospitals in America are getting rid of the superbugs anyway - unless you have that level of curiosity about what's going on without you, you will always come in with your great new recipe and just ignore what's going on, and that will make you much less effective at what you're trying to achieve.” TryingKidsAmericaFoundLevelsCuttingAchieveFemaleDepthCuriosityHospitalsVietnamEgyptRecipesWithout YouMutilation Author:Duncan Green
“I'm very comfortable with being a female now but when I was a little kid I only wanted to be a boy. I didn't want to be a girl. I didn't feel like a man inside... being a boy was just cooler.” MenWantFeelsLittlesKidsWantedGirlBoysComfortableFemaleLittle Kid Author:Patti Smith
“There's no right way to be female or female-identifying. You can love clothes or you cannot love clothes. You can be a stay-at-home mom or you can have a career. You can do both. You can choose to have kids you can choose to not have kids.” KidsMomFemale Author:Amber Benson
“The objectification of females is not a good thing! Not every rapper does this, but when the lyrics focus solely on the strip club, 'poppin' bottles' and how many girls they can 'tap,' it distorts what kids are learning. I think if there was more of a female presence in hip hop we could break up the monotony. It's all about balance.” IfsThinkingDoeKidsGirlBreakFocusBalanceFemaleGood ThingsHip HopClubsHipsHopsBottlesRapperMonotonyObjectification Author:Queen Latifah
“Oh yeah, I think about kids all the time. I feel like the next person I commit to, that's going to be the guy who I'm going to have kids with. That's in my crazy female brain. So that's why I'm like, 'I can't commit.'” ThinkingFeelsPersonsI CanKidsGuyNextBrainCrazyFemaleYeahCommit Author:Amanda Seyfried