Internalized Sexism Quotes

I hated women before I went to prison. I always felt like women were trying to tear each other down.

I think the average guy thinks they're pro-woman, just because they think they're a nice guy and someone has told them that they're awesome. But the truth is far from it.

Many women do not recognize themselves as discriminated against; no better proof could be found of the totality of their conditioning.

Similarly, I think I'm lucky that I've never had a crisis about whether the only reason I'm successful is because I'm crazy hot. It's not something that crosses my mind.

Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.

The message was always, 'It's good to be pretty, but don't look like you're trying to be pretty!' Inherent in that is a lot of misogyny, I think, because the implication is, 'You must work hard to achieve a feminine ideal for which society has nothing but contempt.'

Sexism is bad enough when it's men demeaning women. When women do it to other women, it's even more deflating.

This is how women self-sabotage and self-destruct. Unless we have constant witnesses to our hard work, we are convinced we pull off every day of our lives through smoke and mirrors. (27)

Feminism wasn't really at the top of my vocabulary. I think what's been interesting for me - let me say this delicately - when I've been surrounded by men who don't believe women are equal, I didn't think women were equal, including myself.

Women themselves condition their daughters to serve the system of male primacy. If a daughter challenges it, the mother will generally defend the system rather than her daughter. These mothers, victims themselves, have unwittingly become wounded wounders. Women need to attack culture's oppression of women, for there truly is a godlike socializing power that induces women to "buy in" or collude, but we also need to confront our own part in accepting male dominance and take responsibility where appropriate.

The more I was treated as a woman, the more woman I became. A adapted willy-nilly. If I was assumed to be incompetent at reversing cars, or opening bottles, oddly incompetent I found myself becoming. If a case was thought too heavy for me, inexplicably I found it so myself.

It is because of men that women dislike one another.

If you believe in the maternal instinct and fail at mother love, you fail as a woman. It is a controlling idea that holds us in an iron grip.

Patriarchy doesn't just make men out to be ogres. Women buy into the patriarchy as well, and women make those comments as well, like, 'Boys will be boys.' Women have to undo that stuff, too.

I think one of the biggest things that affects young women is when they hear their mothers using fat talk.

Feminism, unlike almost every other social movement, is not a struggle against a distinct oppressor - it's not the ruling class or the occupiers or the colonizers - it's against a deeply held set of beliefs and assumptions that we women, far too often, hold ourselves.

I feel like as a teenager making music, I had a lot of internalised misogyny, a need to be one of the boys, and a lot of self-hatred. As I discovered what feminism is and what it meant to me, it definitely took a hold of my life in a big way.

Internalized sexism that makes us feel like we can't show ourselves not being perfect.

I think feeling responsible for stuff that goes wrong is an inherent part of being female.

I think that it's our job to sort of band together and say, 'OK, what are the ways the male gaze has seeped into your brain and is affecting the way you treat yourself? Let's work together to eliminate that.'

All my life I've always been so ashamed of being feminine.

That's what makes life so hard for women, that instead of thinking that this is the way things are, we always think it's the way we are.

What is frustrating is being told that no matter how hard I've worked, it counts less than my appearance. Although if you're not considered conventionally attractive, that also becomes an issue: you know, you're a feminist because you couldn't get a man.

Every time I've been offered a new job, I've automatically said, 'Oh, I don't think you want me for that job.' It's sort of a weird female - or, at least, it is in me - a weird female defense, when, in fact, what you want to do is scream, 'Hooray, I want to do this!'

Why do girls always feel like they have to apologize for giving an opinion or taking up space in the world? Have you ever noticed that?" Nicole asked. "You go on websites and some girl leaves a post and if it's longer than three sentences or she's expressing her thoughts about some topic, she usually ends with, 'Sorry for the rant' or 'That may be dumb, but that's what I think.