362 Quotes About Patriarchy

The old saying goes, "keep a stiff upper lip," but as I watch his reflection in the polished, steel walls of the elevator, I think that it isn't the lip we need to worry about. The bottom one gives our terror away. Every single time.

One of the many idiosyncrasies of patriarchy is how it convinces us that the world isn’t actually biased or bigoted.

Man looks on woman from his vantage point and reduces her to a being that is not for-itself but for-him.

Women’s bodies are arranged, maimed, jeopardized, and tailored for the purposes of men-defined eroticism. [...] We dye our hair, smear our lips, paint our cheeks, stop oursweat, perfume our genitals, unkink our hair, and pluck our brows.

Sexploitation involves the partial, not the complete, reduction of woman. We must be sufficiently objectified to be a body that is for-men and at the same time sufficiently our-selves to have human grace and movement.

Men cannot sit back and say, 'Well, I'm not rich and powerful; that's not me.' It is you - if you are not actively dismantling the patriarchy, you are factually benefiting from it. Are you uncomfortable? Good. You should be. Discomfort is a reminder that privilege is being questioned, and this revolutionary moment is one in which we must defy, disobey, and disrupt the patriarchy, everywhere.

The ultimate violence patriarchy does to women is to make us believe we deserve what has been done to us—a loop forever closing, breaking us so that we will raise broken women.

Objectification is rooted in disrespect, condescending views of the opposite gender, and power struggles. When men realize that they have the capability to fundamentally respect women, and women realize that they have the power to present themselves as empowered, fully capable people, raunch culture may moan its last and final faked orgasm.

If you say fuck the patriarchy but don't ride for other women, then it might be more true that the patriarchy has fucked you, seducing you with the belief that men care more about your well-being than women do.