Gloria Steinem Quotes

Men continue to misinterpret the second-rate status of women as implying a privileged status for themselves; heterosexuals think the same way about homosexuals; gentiles about Jews; whites about blacks; haves about have-nots.

Why do you all push us around?

What we really need to be understanding is that all of these things matter and they all stem from the fact that certain people live with power and authority and they want to maintain it.

As equality increases, so does the number of people struggling for predominance.

To hold a people in oppression you have to convince them first that they are supposed to be oppressed.

I am from the class that has, in a sense, benefited from the status quo, but everyone still gets victimized.

The caste systems of sex and race are interdependent and can only be uprooted together.

If a test of civilization be sought, none can be so sure as the condition of that half of society over which the other half has power.

People in power need to control others in order to maintain power. One of the ways to do that is to take that which is threatening and demonize it.

Justice often means taking power from some who have it and giving it to some who do not.

The paradox of American democracy has been that its slogan of equal opportunity has meant, often, equal opportunity to get power over your fellows.

If a test of civilization be sought, none can be so sure as the condition of the half of society over which the other half has power—from the exercises of the right of the strongest.

An issue between a people and a class

Oppression is the essence of power.

The veil is the mask of Egyptian women in a power struggle against the dictatorship of men…. The veil gives women more power in a man’s world.

… as long as men, even socialist men, even the best men in the world, make laws these will be to their advantage and to our disadvantage.

As the oppressor minority subordinates and dominates the majority, it must divide it and keep it divided in order to remain in power.

What is new in our time is the increased power of the authorities to enforce their prejudices.

It's always going to be a fight for anyone who isn't an older white man. I want to fight for anyone who doesn't have a fight.

Different identity groups hold specific levels of power over others when their battles play out in the media. To wit: Black beats white. Gay beats white. Black beats gay.

I have this rule. It's called 'Top Dog-Underdog:' Underdog gets to make fun of Top Dog, but Top Dog can't make fun of Underdog. But you know what? You get Top Dog, you get to be Top Dog. Congratulations! And that dynamic happens not just in race but in many different ways. It's like the male-female dynamic.

We'll always be re-examining how we relate to each other in terms of race and gender, in terms of power and access.

However democratic and egalitarian we kid ourselves into thinking society might be, I think that sense of entitlement operates as basically and viciously as it always did.

The rich stick together; the poor and the marginalised are thrown together.

Society is better off without certain people.