QuoteProject
Feminism's agenda is basic: it asks that women not be forced to "choose" between public justice and private happiness. It asks that women be free to define themselves-instead of having their identity defined for them, time and again, by their culture and their men.
Susan Faludi
ShareWTF𝕏

Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes that feminism seeks to empower women to define their own identities and balance personal happiness with societal expectations.

Susan Faludi's quote highlights the fundamental aim of feminism, which advocates for women's autonomy and the freedom to define their own lives. It challenges the societal pressures that force women to make difficult choices between their personal fulfillment and the roles imposed by a patriarchal culture, emphasizing the importance of individual identity over collective definitions shaped by society or men.

Themes

FeminismIdentityWomenAutonomyHappiness

In practice

Example use cases

In a talk about gender equality, one might use this quote to highlight the importance of women defining their own paths.

More from Susan Faludi

The media and the rest of popular culture weren't recording people's reactions to 9/11; they were forcing made-up reactions down people's throats.
Susan FaludiRead
The women's movement hit my neighborhood like a freight train. Everybody got divorced. You wonder what would have happened to women if the suburbs hadn't been built.
Susan FaludiRead
The system of heroism depends on women to be weak so men can be strong.
Susan FaludiRead
As it turns out, social scientists have established only one fact about single women's mental health: employment improves it.
Susan FaludiRead
When the enemy has no face, society will invent one.
Susan FaludiRead
Feminism's agenda is basic: It asks that women not be forced to 'choose' between public justice and private happiness.
Susan FaludiRead

Similar quotes

When I was a baby feminist, leading feminist thinkers were insisting that if women ran the world, there would be no sadism or war.
Naomi WolfRead
I do not subscribe to a feminism that demands perfection or super heroic nobility of women. But I do insist that putting women at the service of patriarchy is no victory for us.
Mona EltahawyRead
Womanist is to feminist as purple is to lavender.
Alice WalkerRead
We need a new kind of feminism, one that stresses personal responsibility and is open to art and sex in all their dark, unconsoling mysteries. The feminist of the fin de si?cle will be bawdy, streetwise, and on-the-spot confrontational, in the prankish Sixties way.
Camille PagliaRead
People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.
Rebecca WestRead
A movie about a weak, vulnerable woman can be feminist if it shows a real person that we can empathize with.
Natalie PortmanRead

A little wisdom, now and then

Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.

Quote by Susan Faludi | QuoteProject