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Gender Roles Quotes

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Gender Roles Quotes

“Studies show that girls - especially smarter ones - have severe problems in the area of self-confidence. They consistently underestimate their own ability. When asked how they think they'll do on different tasks - whether the tasks are untried or ones they've encountered before - they give lower estimates than boys do, and in general underestimate their actual performance as well. One study even showed that the brighter the girl, the less expectations she has of being successful at intellectual tasks. (...) Low self-confidence is the plague of many girls, and it leads to a host of related problems. Girls are highly suggestible and tend to change their minds about perceptual judgments if someone disagrees with them. They set lower standards for themselves. While boys are challenged by difficult tasks, girls try to avoid them. (...) Given her felt incompetence, it's not surprising that the little girl would hotfoot it to the nearest Other and cling for dear life. (...) As we can see, the problems of excessive dependence follow female children right into adulthood.”

FeminismDependencePatriarchyGender RolesMale PrivilegeCinderella ComplexEmotional DependenceFemale Socialization
Book:The Cinderella Complex: Women's Hidden Fear of Independence
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“Other victims of neurotic dependency are battered wives. The fact that they are so often financially dependent upon the men who beat them makes for a vicious kind of entrapment. It's emotional dependency, though that puts a double lock on the trap. "There's a kind of panic that many women have about being able to make it in any way other than being dependent on their husbands (...) They've been taught their whole lives that they can't. It's a conditioning process." In situations in which they have no effect on their environments, animals begin to give up. (...) the same thing happens to humans. Stay long enough in a situation in which you feel you have no control, and you will simply stop responding. It's called learned helplessness. (...) Having been "shaped" to believe there is nothing she can do about the situation, the battered wife goes on being battered.Only after she begins to disengage from her belief in her own helplessness can she break out of the vicious cycle of dependency and its brutal effect on her life.”

WomenFeminismPatriarchyGender RolesViolence Against WomenDomestic AbuseMale PrivilegeCinderella ComplexEmotional DependenceFemale SocializationFinancial Dependence
Book:The Cinderella Complex: Women's Hidden Fear of Independence
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“Long before we had writing or farms or post-digital strike helicopters, we had each other. We lived together and changed each other, and so we needed to say “this is who I am, this is what I do.” So, in the same way that we attached sounds to meanings to make language, we began to attach clusters of behavior to signal social roles. Those clusters were rich, and quick-changing, and so just like language, we needed networks devoted to processing them. We needed a place in the brain to construct and to analyze gender.”

GenderTransGender RolesGender NormsGender Performance
Author:Isabel Fall
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“Women were never absent from film history; they often simply weren’t documented as part of it because they did “women's work”, which was—by definition— insignificant, tedious, low status, and noncreative. In the golden age of Hollywood, women could be found in nearly every department of every studio, minding the details that might otherwise get in the way of more important, prestigious, or creative work (a.k.a. men's work). If film historians consider the classical Hollywood era’s mode of production a system, we ought to consider women this system’s main-stay, because studios were built on their low-cost backs and scaled through their brush and keystrokes.”

FeminismHollywoodGender EqualityGender RolesEqual PayOld HollywoodHistoory
Book:Never Done: A History of Women's Work in Media Production
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“What’s the worst possible thing you can call a woman? Don’t hold back, now. You’re probably thinking of words like slut, whore, bitch, cunt (I told you not to hold back!), skank. Okay, now, what are the worst things you can call a guy? Fag, girl, bitch, pussy. I’ve even heard the term “mangina.” Notice anything? The worst thing you can call a girl is a girl. The worst thing you can call a guy is a girl. Being a woman is the ultimate insult. Now tell me that’s not royally fucked up.”

MenHateWomenFeminismBullyingMisogynyDegradationGender RolesInsultsDehumanization
Book:Full Frontal Feminism
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“One night he said abruptly: Stephen won't marry—I don't want her to marry; it would only mean disaster.' And at this Anna broke out in angry protest. Why shouldn't Stephen marry? She wished her to marry. Was he mad? And what did he mean by disaster? No woman was ever complete without marriage—what on earth did he mean by disaster He frowned and refused to answer her question. Stephen, he said, must go up to Oxford. He had set his heart on a good education for the child, who might some day become a fine writer. Marriage wasn't the only career for a woman. Look at Puddle, for instance; she'd been at Oxford—a most admirable, well-balanced, sensible creature. Next year he was going to send Stephen to Oxford. Anna scoffed: 'Yes, indeed, he might well look at Puddle! She was what came of this higher education—a lonely, unfulfilled, middle-aged spinster. Anna didn't want that kind of life for her daughter.”

WomenEducationMarriageGenderLgbtqGender RolesSingle LifeLesbiansSpinstersGender Relationships
Book:The Well Of Loneliness
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“Understanding the shadow masculine or shadow feminine in oneself is crucial not only for enhancing one ’s own wholeness but for championing justice between genders and all diverse groups in the community. If the shadow is not recognized and dealt with, it will dominate an individual or . . . community, resulting in untold suffering.”

SacredActivismFeminineMasculineGender Roles
Book:Collapsing Consciously: Transformative Truths for Turbulent Times
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“claims about what's 'natural' have long been used to reinforce traditional gender roles and values. ... Even the notion that women should have children at all is based on the idea that a woman's inherent and most important role is that of mother. Shockingly, men's 'innate' roles are a lot more fun than the ones bestowed on women.”

MenShouldChildrenLongImportantIdeasUsedMotherValuesFunNaturalRolesShould HaveClaimsNotionGenderTraditionalSexismInherentInnateGender Roles
Author:Jessica Valenti
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“Zoologists have reckoned there are up to at least 750 species of animal that have been observed exhibiting same-sex behaviour, or gender role transformation (which is very common in a wide range of fauna). There is only one species on earth, however, which has exhibited homophobia or transphobia. And that is the species homo sapiens sapiens. Us. So let's not allow the foolish, ignorant or bigoted ever to use words like "natural."”

Has BeensUseEarthSexNaturalAnimalCommonRolesTransformationSpeciesGenderWideFoolishIgnorantRangeBehaviourHomo SapiensHomophobiaGender RolesZoologist
Author:Stephen Fry
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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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“The scene at a certain time was definitely boys; those huge warehouses were kind of violent parties, even. I think people in your immediate community made a nightlife scene that actually did break down gender roles and were along different lines of identity that had to do with race and experience in the '90s, rather than gender.”

PeopleThinkingKindMadeDifferentCertainCommunityLinesPartyRaceBoysRolesBreakIdentityHugeSceneGenderViolentBreaking DownGender RolesWarehouseNightlife
Author:Le1f
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“If you consider that the gender roles are just political, then what you come to see is that the full circle of human qualities is divided up so that two-thirds are masculine and one-third is feminine. Women are missing more of their human qualities, so you'll find us on the fore-front of trying to change this.”

IfsTryingHumansTwoPoliticalQualityRolesMissingFrontsThirdsGenderCirclesFeminineDividedMasculineGender RolesTrying To ChangeHuman QualitiesFull Circle
Author:Gloria Steinem
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“When you put a halo on concepts - gender roles, religion, nationality or pride - or you put a halo on any topic - anything that you hold dear like the relationship between a father and son or a mother and daughter, what it means to be married or what it means to be single or what it means to be a free spirit or what it means to be an artist - if you just put a halo on something and say it's untouchable - "that is special and that is perfect" - you immediately close your eyes to the truth of it, because the truth is that nothing is perfect.”

IfsMeanEyeSpiritMotherArtistFatherPerfectRolesSpecialSonPrideTruth IsMarriedDaughterConceptsDearGenderTopicsBeing MarriedNationalityGender RolesFree SpiritMother And DaughterFather And SonHalosUntouchablesNothing Is Perfect
Author:Dan Mangan
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“What's amazing about this show [Westworld], and what it gives us permission to do, is to be kind of superhuman. Because at the end of the day, [Dolores] she's not a male and she's not a female. She's evolved past that. She's a very highly advanced being, and so I think it's really going to knock down a lot of stereotypes and a lot of gender roles and be a neutral party.”

ThinkingGivingKindEndsShowsPastPartyRolesFemaleMalesGenderThe End Of The DayBe KindPermissionStereotypeGender RolesSuperhuman
Author:Evan Rachel Wood
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“On the question of women's sexual freedom or female independence, there are still issues that haven't been worked out. There's an aura of traditional gender roles that is not talked about that really permeates these conversations. There is this vacillation between a desire for independence and having the kinds of sexual freedom that men have and, on the other side, issues about female vulnerability and susceptibility to male aggression and violence. We need more honesty about the actual conditions in which sex is happening.”

MenNeedsKindStillsDesireSexSidesRolesIssuesViolenceConditionsHavensHonestyConversationHappeningsFemaleIndependenceMalesGenderTraditionalVulnerabilityAggressionGender RolesAurasSusceptibilityVacillationAggression And Violence
Author:Laura Kipnis
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“I'm seeing more and more interesting horror come my way. More and more interesting thrillers and genre films are coming my way from the studio level, and they're financed and they have movie stars attached and all of that. But a lot of times, the storytelling just doesn't speak to me. It feels like it's still oftentimes coming out of a kind of prescribed notion of normalcy, prescribed notion of gender roles. There's not a lot of "new" seeming to be happening.”

KindFilmSpeakInterestingHorrorGenderStorytellingMy WayMovie StarGender Roles
Author:Karyn Kusama
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“I can't really speak to what it was like to call yourself a feminist in the past on a personal level but I think calling oneself a feminist in the past may have been inimical because feminists in the '70s were the first to really challenge deeply embedded gender roles and demand concrete political and economic rights. They were asking for rights that seemed like a direct threat to those in power - they were asking for equality in a society that didn't have it in an obvious way. They were put down and villainized because they were seen as threatening.”

ThinkingPastPoliticalSpeakChallengesEconomicDirectThreatOneselfFeministObviousGenderConcreteThreateningGender RolesEmbedded
Author:Julie Zeilinger
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“You know?" he repeated. She smiled, so he kissed her. "You're not the Han Solo in this relationship, you know." "I'm totally the Han Solo," she whispered. It was good to hear her. It was good to remember it was Eleanor under all this new flesh. "Well, I'm not the Princess Leia," he said. "Don't get so hung up on gender roles," Eleanor said.” ... “You can be Han Solo," he said, kissing her throat. "And I'll be Boba Fett. I'll cross the sky for you.”

KnowsWellsSaidRememberRolesSkyKissingCrossesGenderFleshThroatPrincessHungSoloGender RolesEleanorKissing HerLeiaBoba Fett
Book:The Rainbow Rowell Collection: Eleanor & Park, Fangirl, Landline, and Carry On
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“I do a lot with characters' sense of identity. I also like challenging stereotypes, gender roles, things like that. Give me a stereotype or a genre expectation and the first thing I want to do is stand it on its head. In the Nightrunner books I wanted to see if I could create a believable gay hero, one who wasn't someone's sidekick or a victim.”

IfsWantGivingFirstsBookCharacterWantedChallengesRolesIdentityHeroGayExpectationsGive MeVictimGenderGenreIf I CouldStereotypeGender RolesBelievableSidekicks
Author:Lynn Flewelling
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“Call me old-fashioned, but I thought the one battle we feminists won fair and square was to convince at least those left of centre that gender roles are made up. They are not real. We play at them. We develop traditional masculine or feminine traits by being indoctrinated, not because we are biologically programmed to behave in those ways.”

WayMadeRealPlayLeftRolesBattleFairsFeministGenderTraditionalBehaveConvinceCall MeFeminineSquaresTraitsCentreOld FashionedMasculineGender Roles
Author:Julie Bindel
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“This rule of silence is upheld when the culture refuses everyone easy access even to the word “patriarchy.” Most children do not learn what to call this system of institutionaliz ed gender roles, so rarely do we name it in everyday speech. This silence promotes denial. And how can we organize to challenge and change a system that cannot be named?”

ChildrenCultureNamesEasyChallengesSilenceRolesSpeechEverydayRefuseGenderAccessDenialOrganizePatriarchySilence IsGender RolesEasy Access
Book:The Will to Change: Men, Masculinity, and Love
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