Anna Quindlen Quotes

We live in a patriarchal culture. It's okay for women to be objectified but not for men.

People expect me to be with some stripper... That's just the kind of woman I work with.

For women raised in the '70s, high heels can still carry a stigma; they're associated with being stupid, with just wanting to please a man. Other women find them empowering.

As actors, we don't shy away from saying, 'I wanted to be an actor because I wanted to meet girls.' Directors cannot say the same thing.

To live in a culture in which women are routinely naked where men aren't is to learn inequality in little ways all day long.

The whole sex symbol or babe thing doesn't bother me.

And then also I think it's harder for women because comedy is so opposite of being ladylike.

I think women in pop have been declawed and defanged, and they're just meant to look pretty and sing pretty.

Why is it men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are only permitted to be obsessed about men?

Women are always complaining about men's fascination with breasts. But what if men were absolutely indifferent to breasts? What would women do then with these things that serve one function once or twice in a lifetime, and the rest of the time are just in the way?

I was in Asia and people asked me about being considered sex symbol. I don't know if that's good or not, because where I come from, sex isn't something you're allowed to talk about.

I'm eulogised by a lot of men, but they wouldn't take me home to meet their mothers.

Female performers have been doing this for years - pushing the envelope about sexuality - and the minute a man does it, everybody freaks out.

Old women should not seek to be perfumed.

You learn that the only way to get rock-star power as a girl is to be a groupie and bare your breasts and get chosen for the night. We learn that the only way to get anywhere is through men. And it's a lie.

I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American. But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic and a progressive religious experience.

The press, many-tongued, surpassed itself in reproaches upon these women who had so far departed from their sphere as to speak in public.

Women's degradation is in man's idea of his sexual rights. Our religion, laws, customs, are all founded on the belief that woman was made for man.

The only moment I become aware of being the only woman in a meeting is when actresses are being discussed. If someone's critical of how a woman looks, they turn to me and apologize.

Some forms of veil are justified by the idea that you're not tempting men. Well how about men just behaving and keeping their hands to yourselves? How about, instead of criticizing how I dress, respecting me and my right to the public space?

Women over 30 are usually somebody's mother in a 'Porky's' movie, being silly and being ridiculed. There's just not a whole lot for them to do. It's just coffee-pouring on a bigger scale.

I have played a lot of roles in my career where I'm the sexual interest. I'm always having to fight that.

The way my body is viewed in the world is different than a male body. People are going to write about the performance, but they're probably also going to be writing about what I was wearing or my hair, which just doesn't happen to men.

If actors can show their abs, why can't women show their bikini bods?

I've heard people say to me, 'How can you claim to be a feminist when you dress like that?' I wear a lot of slip dresses and nightwear and stuff. People always question my credibility because of that: 'Oh, are you selling sex? Are you doing this or that to be recognized more or to sell your music?' No, it's just a fashion thing for me.