Billie Jean King Quotes

There's nothing masculine about being competitive. There's nothing masculine about trying to be the best at everything you do, nor is there anything wrong with it. I don't know why a female athlete has to defend her femininity just because she chooses to play sports.

The letters I really love are from young actresses who were worried they had to fit a certain look. They say I've opened it up. And I don't just mean plus-size girls. You can push things now. With all the great performances in 'Bridesmaids', it changed how people see funny women.

I never had a problem with the people I was close to because I was playing football with them, and they knew I could play. It didn't matter that I was a girl.

The roots of Silicon Valley are full of stories of immigrants and minority groups who experienced bigotry and made it anyway. Why should women be any different?

We don't want to be our own niche. We're filmmakers like everybody. How many years in a row are we going to talk about the fact that we make films and we are women? Enough already.

No one said, 'This is the best female rapper.' It's more like, 'Lizzo can really rap.' I think its because I'm not that sexy girl. I'm that beast girl.

When women say that going on publications directed at men is somehow demeaning, I don't think that's true. I think that's one really effective way to change the societal standard women are held to.

CEOs of top companies could probably use a dose of not-asking-for-raise behavior and less self-entitlement, rather than us trying to change girls in order to fit into the common mold of what we think a CEO looks like.

You just wish sometimes that people would treat you like a human being rather than seeing your gender first and who you are second.

If there's specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can't change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies.

I'm glad you're doing this story on us and not on the WNBA. We're so much prettier than all the other women in sports.

There's such a stereotype about men and women. Obviously, people think men are faster and stronger and all these other things, and I don't want people to get sucked into that anymore. I want them to realize that the women are out here and doing just as awesome things. They can be just as great, too.

I think that instead of feminism being a political thing, it should be an act of creativity. It's more of a rock n' roll thing.

One thing I've always been concerned about is the objectification of women in ads, and that's one thing where I was like, 'Well, if I become a part of advertising, I could change that.'

We live in a world where sports have the potential to bridge the gap between racism, sexism and discrimination. The 2012 Olympic Games was a great start but hopefully what these games taught us is that if women are given an opportunity on an equal playing field the possibilities for women are endless.

A lot of people believe women can't do tech-y stuff. Becoming nerdy doesn't have to mean the short-haired guy, but can be the woman with very long, beautiful hair.

It didn't matter how good I was. It was always, 'You're a girl. You can't play with the guys.' It's always been motivation for me.

We decided to focus on women because no one was singling them out.

As a young girl, I'm always going to have to work a bit harder to prove myself; that's just reality. But having to work harder makes me feel like girls are stronger, too.

They won't take you seriously because you are a girl. These guys had to understand that you are just as tough as them, and you have to take them on.

Women like me aren't supposed to run for office.

Women don't necessarily understand that it is possible to have the same level of ambition as men - they allow themselves to be held back by the obstacles rather than empowered by the possibilities.

There's a negative connotation to ambitious women, and I think that we should be able to be proud of being ambitious and not shy away from that, if that... is what you want to do.

Nia Jax is bringing a whole different message to the 'Women's Evolution.' Yes, we are athletic. Yes, we can go just as hard as the men, but women come in all different shapes and sizes.

I believe that the sport of football has set itself up to be in a position where it shows itself in the bigger picture to not really care about women - they don't really care about people of color, but we won't get into that for NFL either - but as a woman I feel like a person who has been marginalized.