The 'working poor,' as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society.
Barbara EhrenreichRead
We need a kind of feminism that aims not just to assimilate into the institutions that men have created over the centuries, but to infiltrate and subvert them.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the need for a feminism that seeks to transform existing patriarchal structures rather than simply conforming to them.
Barbara Ehrenreich argues for a form of feminism that does not settle for merely fitting into the traditional institutions established by men throughout history. Instead, she calls for a more radical approach where women actively challenge and disrupt these systems, advocating for deeper societal change and questioning the foundational power dynamics. This perspective pushes for a transformation that goes beyond surface-level inclusion, aiming to fundamentally alter the structures that govern society.
Themes
FeminismPowerSubversionEqualityChange
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on gender equality, you could use this quote to emphasize the need for transformative approaches in feminism.
More from Barbara Ehrenreich
All quotes βThe secret of the truly successful, I believe, is that they learned very early in life how not to be busy. They saw through that adage, repeated to me so often in childhood, that anything worth doing is worth doing well. The truth is, many things are worth doing only in the most slovenly, halfhearted fashion possible, and many other things are not worth doing at all.
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From the point of view of the pharmaceutical industry, the AIDS problem has already been solved. After all, we already have a drug which can be sold at the incredible price of $8,000 an annual dose, and which has the added virtue of not diminishing the market by actually curing anyone.
Barbara EhrenreichRead
Well I do think there are people who are habitually negative and depressed and take the opposite approach because they imagine the worst, and their minds become dominated by that. They let their own emotions and expectations transform their perceptions of the world.
Barbara EhrenreichRead
Some of us still get all weepy when we think about the Gaia Hypothesis, the idea that earth is a big furry goddess-creature who resembles everybody's mom in that she knows what's best for us. But if you look at the historical record - Krakatoa, Mt. Vesuvius, Hurricane Charley, poison ivy, and so forth down the ages - you have to ask yourself: Whose side is she on, anyway?
Barbara EhrenreichRead
I would never call myself a cancer survivor because I think it devalues those who do not survive. There's this whole mythology that people bravely battle their cancer and then they become survivors. Well, the ones who don't survive may be just as brave, you know, just as courageous, wonderful people.
Barbara EhrenreichRead
Similar quotes
The issues that matter to women also matter to communities... and these issues have a ripple effect all across the country. And the purist sense of the feminist tradition - feminism is not anti-man. It is pro-humanity.
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When I was a baby feminist, leading feminist thinkers were insisting that if women ran the world, there would be no sadism or war.
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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.
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There is a widespread assumption that simply because my generation of women has the good fortune to live in a world touched by the feminist movement, that means everything we do is magically imbued with its agenda, but it doesn't work that way.
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I'm a feminist. I've been a female for a long time now. It'd be stupid not to be on my own side.
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People call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute.
Rebecca WestRead