Jessica Valenti Quotes

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.

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.

I'm so bored of reading scripts with these wonderfully complex male roles, yet the woman character just sits on the bed waiting for him to come home.

We live with a distinct double standard about male and female aggression. Women's aggression isn't considered real. It isn't dangerous; it's only cute. Or it's always self-defense or otherwise inspired by a man. In the rare case where a woman is seen as genuinely responsible, she is branded a monster - an 'unnatural' woman.

The roles I used to be cast for were typically objectified women, so I was always being shown or spoken about through the lens of the guy.

So many women characters are extensions of male fantasy.

A woman's desire is either terrifying, or it's ignored.

Why do women have to face comments like, 'You are wearing short clothes; you are alluring and inviting men?'

Woman is a vulgar animal from whom man has created an excessively beautiful ideal.

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.

We don't have enough young, female antiheroes. We don't accept women as antiheroes the way we do the men.

At the end of the day, women are a distraction. Whether you realize it or not.

You hear about these shows where there are all these women are supposedly always in a catfight, and then you find out in reality that they're all getting along fine.

I have four daughters. A lot of the time, I don't allow myself to be in projects that objectify women.

I could truly have gone through life thinking that women were these venomous creatures. Turns out, they're not.

Guys who go on and on about loving women usually don't.

There aren't good roles for women: the female parts aren't developed: the women are serving the men.

Whenever women catfight, men think it's going to turn to sex.

'True Detective' would not pass The Bechdel Test.

I really detest movies like 'Indecent Proposal' and 'Pretty Woman' because they send a message to women that sleeping with a rich man is the ultimate goal and really that's such a small part of it.

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 don't like the term 'chick flick.' I think it denigrates a movie. It has overtones of talking down to women, like they are second best.

No one talks about woman power. The Spice Girls - they're masquerading as little girls. It's repulsive.

Often women are pitted against each other for an easy joke, so they fight or steal each other's boyfriends. That's not really true to life.