Ayanna Pressley Quotes

As I got older, I had to learn to not have people speak for me. It was the first time I recognized, 'Oh, sometimes people are going to condescend to me because I'm a woman, or sometimes people aren't going to give me opportunities because of the way I look.'

I hate how box-office failures are blamed on an actress, yet I don't see a box-office failure blamed on men.

Basically, women have to prove they are strong at all times. And then when they go on the attack, they have to not appear mean because those women often get the label of being catty.

Women are the harshest critics of other women.

As a woman, I know that if I write about another woman, it will be perceived as a catfight.

Women get the attention when we get into the men's arena, and that's sad.

I was called a misogynist because I was reducing women to mothers. 'Reducing women to mothers' - now there is possibly the most anti-women statement I've heard.

In Hollywood, women hate each other.

A man is as good as he has to be, and a woman as bad as she dares.

Whatever evil a man may think of women, there is no woman but thinks more.

How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being.

Control of females is mandatory for a successful, civilized, humane and compassionate society

You—the outside world—will be told that it is our “culture” and “religion” to do X, Y, and Z to women. Understand that whoever deemed it as such was never a woman.

If there's ever a woman who's smart, funny, or witty, people are afraid of that, so they don't write that. They only write parts for women where they let everything be steamrolled over them, where they let people wipe their feet all over them.

When you see the way some people write women, especially in studio movies, it's like, 'Sorry! Sorry for being alive!' Women are so apologetic.

I'm always surprised at the negative response to the women in my books who are openly ambitious or experience aggression.

I hope that people realise pitting two women against each other is just silly.

I really feel like females have to go 50 extra miles. Not just one - 50 extra miles to be accepted or taken seriously.

I think women judge other women more harshly, always, which is a shame.

Women do feel like they're in a box. Society, Hollywood, some men-they want to wrap women up in a neat little package.

They said I was a married mother of two but the record sounded like an indie album and they didn't know how to market it! This country is incredibly sexist, as is the music and media industry.

Often, women as little girls are sent off on a track for them to live a perfect life and be a perfect woman. Not for boys, who can be themselves with their mood and their temper.

Two phrases I hate in reference to female characters are 'strong' and 'feisty.' They really annoy me. It's the most condescending thing. You say that about a three-year-old. It infantilises women.

A woman doing comedy doesn't offend me, but sets me back a bit. I, as a viewer, have trouble with it. I think of her as a producing machine that brings babies in the world.

What works for a man, still does not work for a woman - both in terms of how they see themselves and how we see them.