Jessica Valenti Quotes

I am a feminist. I reject wholeheartedly the way we are taught to perceive women. The beauty of women, how a woman should act or behave. Women are strong and fragile. Women are beautiful and ugly. We are soft-spoken and loud, all at once. There is something mind-controlling about the way we're taught to view women.

Women writers of all people should know better than to pigeonhole women, put them in little groups, the smart one, the sweet one.

People should realize women aren't just whores or virgins, I want to see women who are real human beings.

Women shouldn't iron, ever. It's our wrinkles that make us interesting.

We all know that television is better for women as they get into their 40s. You could be more three-dimensional, not just the wife or the mother.

Beguiling voices in the world cry out for 'alternative lifestyles' for women. They maintain that some women are better suited for careers than for marriage and motherhood.

I grew up with that completely fictive idea of motherhood, where the mother never strayed from the kitchen. All the women in my books are very afraid that if they do anything with their minds they won't be complete women. I don't think my daughters' generation has that feeling.

Why can't there be a lot of great women who are doing great things?

One of the duties which devolve upon women in the present interesting crisis, is to prepare themselves for more extensive usefulness, by making use of those religious and literary privileges and advantages that are within their reach, if they will only stretch out their hands and possess them.

Women would all be better off if we realized we didn't have to choose between being an intelligent being and a sexual being.

I think the most important thing... is leadership. It's something that has been lacking in young women and girls for a very long time, not because we don't want to but because of what society has labeled women to be. I think we are the most powerful beings in the world and that we should be given every opportunity.

We're told that to be successful girls, we have to be small and quiet. Yet to be successful humans, we have to become big and have a voice. There's an inherent contradiction.

I think it's a very old fashioned attitude, that you've got to wear short skirts and a lot of make up to get on in life. I think most women look at that and laugh. I think those are antiquated views from a bygone age that thankfully is no longer around.

In the past, I have played the roles of subdued, self-sacrificing women. But we need to show our women as bolder individuals. I know this will happen.

I can tell you what women love, and that's when people man-splain things to us about what women want and need.

My mom brought me up to be a feminist. She would always point out to my brother and me that our culture does often portray women like objects...

I've been reading The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan, which is obviously very dated now but still relevant. It's so interesting to see how far we've come and how far we haven't come with all these myths that people put onto women.

People can say what they want, but historically, feminism in the Dominican Republic has been extremely strong.

Women were brought up to believe that men were the answer. They weren't. They weren't even one of the questions.

The anti-equality right wing has interests. We have to learn to stand up for our interests. To seek purity is self-defeating and a stereotype in itself: women have to be pure, women are not concerned about money.

I've always considered myself a feminist, which is such a tough word for people. Some people immediately assume that you're angry or you hate men, which is obviously not true.

The whole land seems aroused to discussion on the province of woman, and I am glad of it. We are willing to bear the brunt of thestorm, if we can only be the means of making a break in that wall of public opinion which lies right in the way of woman's rights, true dignity, honor and usefulness.

People need to stand up, women need to stand up for each other and say, "No you can't kick this person like they're a dog. You can disagree with someone politically, you can have arguments, definitely privilege needs to be discussed in real productive and valid ways. But it's not real criticism if it's just like, "you're a disgusting bad person."

I do consider myself a feminist. I know the word has weird implications for people now, but I do think that its important to have women involved, whether its business or public service or...anything.

The first time I was asked whether women can "have it all" was at the Miss America pageant. I said no. I didn't mean that women shouldn't fully pursue their dreams, only that we need to be honest with ourselves.