“
A 2013 UN homicide survey found that 96% 9 of homicide perpetrators worldwide are male. So is it humans who are murderous,or men?
”
”
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men
“
She'd like to be indispensable; that's what every woman wants...
”
”
Françoise Sagan (Dans un mois, dans un an)
“
They were doers and thinkers and lovers and seekers and givers, but dreamers, most dangerously of all.
They were dreamer-women.
Very dangerous women.
Who looked at the world through their wide dreamer-eyes and saw it not as it was, "brutal, senseless," etc., but worse, as it might be or might yet become.
So, insatiable women.
Un-pleasable women.
”
”
Taiye Selasi (Ghana Must Go)
“
In the time that we're here today, more women and children will die violently in the Darfur region than in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Israel or Lebanon. So, after September 30, you won't need the UN - you will simply need men with shovels and bleached white linen and headstones.
”
”
George Clooney
“
Mona, tu eşti un animal de lux. Eşti făcută din puţin parfum, din multă lene, din oarecare fantezie.
”
”
Mihail Sebastian (Steaua fără nume)
“
There is a certain kind of stupidity reserved for women's dealings with men.
”
”
Françoise Sagan (Dans un mois, dans un an)
“
It had become a chimney poking from a vertical universe of bookshelves.
There was motion below her. There were people on the shelves.
They clung to the edges of the cases and moved across them in expert scuttles. They wore ropes and hooks and carried picks on which they sometimes hung. Dangling from straps they carried notebooks, pens, magnifying glasses, ink pads, and stamps.
The men and women took books from the shelves as they went, checked their details, leaning against their ropes, replaced them, pulled out little pads and made notes, sometimes carried the books with them to another place and reshelved it there.
...
I'm Margarita Staples." She bowed in her harness. 'Extreme librarian. Bookaneer.
”
”
China Miéville
“
Sometimes, people call my way of speaking ranting. Why are you always ranting and screaming, they ask. But here’s the thing…the reason why I rant is because I am a voice for many women that cannot speak out to heads of state, UN officials, and those that influence systems of oppression. And so I rant. And I will not stop ranting until my mission of equality of all girls is achieved.
”
”
Leymah Gbowee
“
for frail but surprisingly strong fairies who had lost their way above ground
for burned mermaids and sick vampire girls
for wild wolfish women with sharp teeth and leaves in their hair
”
”
Francesca Lia Block (How to (Un)cage a Girl)
“
L'idéal de la beauté féminine est variable; mais certaines exigences demeurent constantes; entre autres, puisque la femme est destinée à être possédée, il faut que son corps offre les qualités inertes et passives d'un objet.
”
”
Simone de Beauvoir (Le deuxième sexe, I)
“
members of labor unions, and un-organized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers - themselves desparately afraid of being downsized - are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.
At that point, something will crack. The non-suburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking around for a strongman to vote for - someone willing to assure them that once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen and post modernist professors will no longer be calling the shots...
One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion... All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet pp89-90
”
”
Richard Rorty
“
Nothing becomes some women more than the prick of ambition. Love, on the contrary, may make them very dull.
”
”
Françoise Sagan (Dans un mois, dans un an)
“
I'm against solutions that are worse than the problem. Like old women who want their hair dyed the color of shoe polish to hide the gray.
”
”
Neal Shusterman (UnSouled (Unwind, #3))
“
UN studies conducted in more than forty developing countries show that the birth rate falls as women gain equality... I believe income-earning opportunities that empower poor women ... will have more impact on curbing population growth that the current system of "encouraging" family planning practices through intimidation tactics.. Family planning should be left to the family.
”
”
Muhammad Yunus (Banker to the Poor: Micro-Lending and the Battle Against World Poverty)
“
Quiero un amor que sea como un sueño, como dormir, como nacer de nuevo, vulnerable como un niño en el instante de llegar al mundo".
”
”
D.H. Lawrence (Women in Love)
“
Transcurrieron unos treinta años hasta que empezaron a rendirnos honores... A invitarnos a dar ponencias... Al principio nos escondíamos, ni siquiera enseñábamos nuestras condecoraciones. Los hombres se las ponían, las mujeres no. Los hombres eran los vencedores, los héroes; los novios habían hecho la guerra, pero a nosotros nos miraban con otros ojos. De un modo muy diferente... Nos arrebataron la Victoria, ¿sabes?
”
”
Svetlana Alexievich (War's Unwomanly Face)
“
[Mo] sapeva che a Caterina, Cecilia e Maria, quando avessero messo piede su Deneb, nessuno avrebbe chiesto di compilare un modulo sbarrando la F. e non la M. per relegarle di conseguenza in uno scompartimento di seconda categoria.
”
”
Bianca Pitzorno (Extraterrestre alla pari)
“
El mundo esta lleno de mujeres como Beth, timidas y tranquilas, que aguardan sentadas en un rincon hasta que alguien las necesita, que se entregan a los demas con tanta alegria que nadie ve su sacrificio hasta que el pequeño grillo del hogar cesa de chirriar y la dulce soledad desaparece para dejar tras de si silencio y oscuridad.
”
”
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women (Little Women, #1))
“
Je serai forte.
Comme une femme.
Comme un gladiateur.
”
”
Arroum Rawia
“
Organizations like the UN do a lot of good, but there are certain basic realities they never seem to grasp ...Maybe the most important truth that eludes these organizations is that it's insulting when outsiders come in and tell a traumatized people what it will take for them to heal.
You cannot go to another country and make a plan for it. The cultural context is so different from what you know that you will not understand much of what you see. I would never come to the US and claim to understand what's going on, even in the African American culture. People who have lived through a terrible conflict may be hungry and desperate, but they are not stupid. They often have very good ideas about how peace can evolve, and they need to be asked.
That includes women. Most especially women ...
To outsiders like the UN, these soldiers were a problem to be managed. But they were our children.
”
”
Leymah Gbowee (Mighty Be Our Powers: How Sisterhood, Prayer, and Sex Changed a Nation at War)
“
Nicole had put on weight. This is the effect which, in three cases out of four, unhappiness has upon women. The process of eating guarantees at least the health of the body.
”
”
Françoise Sagan (Dans un mois, dans un an)
“
Es muy difícil para una mujer expresar sus sentimientos en un lenguaje que, principalmente, sirve para que los hombres expresen los suyos.
”
”
Thomas Hardy (Far From the Madding Crowd)
“
Una mujer mediocre es como un libro malo: hacen dudar de la literatura entera, de lo femenino universal
”
”
Francisco Umbral (Mortal y rosa)
“
Fue en la cocina donde empecé a comprender el significado de la palabra "esposa”. Ahí estábamos, una pareja de 24 años: un día éramos una estudiante de doctorado y un artista, y al día siguiente éramos marido y mujer. Antes siempre habíamos puesto juntos sobre la mesa las rudimentarias comidas que tomábamos. Ahora, de pronto, Stefan estaba cada noche en su taller, dibujando o leyendo y yo estaba en la cocina, esforzándome por preparar y servir una comida que ambos pensábamos que debía ser adecuada. Recuerdo pasar me cobra y media preparando algún espantoso plato de cuchara sacado de una revista femenina para terminar engulléndolo los dos en 10 minutos, pasarme después una hora limpiando los cacharros y quedarme mirando el fregadero, pensando: "¿Será esto así durante los siguientes cuarenta años?”.
”
”
Vivian Gornick (Fierce Attachments)
“
There was panic in my eyes. I looked into my own eyes and back down at my hands. Horrid age spots, two scars. Un-Indian, nervous, lonely hands. I could see children and men and gardens in my hands.
”
”
Lucia Berlin (A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories)
“
If you live in Denver or Austin, or near another Ten Commandments monument on public land, go and examine it. See if the full text of each commandment is carved into the stone. See if slavery is recognized, if women are considered chattel, and if the supposed pinnacle of morality punishes innocent children to the third and fourth generations. If the Ten Commandments were truly moral, there would be no need to edit these displays to fit today’s standards. Morality evolves. These edited monuments undercut the very claim they were set up to make. They are monuments to a lie.
”
”
Andrew L. Seidel (The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American)
“
God help us!' Josée thought. 'Here we have one of those regular biblical women! She thinks that a baby will win back her man.
”
”
Françoise Sagan (Dans un mois, dans un an)
“
Non capì, comprese. Perché comprendere era di più, era un abbraccio, era prendere con sé, era farne parte.
”
”
Cetta De Luca (Nata in una casa di donne)
“
Como la aguja de una brújula apunta siempre al norte, así el dedo acusador de un hombre apunta siempre a una mujer
”
”
Isabel Allende (The Japanese Lover)
“
She was glad that she had not let on to Lonzo how she felt; a woman has business to be as strong as a man. No, a woman has to be stronger than a man. A man don't mind laying the ax between a calf's eyes; a woman does mind, and has to stand by and watch it done. A man fathers a little un, but a woman feels it shove up against her heart, and beat on her body, and drag on her with its weight. A woman has to be stronger than a man.
”
”
Caroline Miller (Lamb in His Bosom)
“
Our eyes met and his grin stretched another quarter-inch. Another schoolgirl flip--followed by a very un-schoolgirl wave of heat. He leaned even farther over the boards, lips parting to say something.
"Hey, Kris!" someone yelled behind him. "If you want to flirt with Eve, tell her to meet you in the penalty box. You'll be back there soon enough.
”
”
Kelley Armstrong (Haunted (Women of the Otherworld, #5))
“
Poate că tânjesc după un miracol… Care anume? Să încetez să mă văd acționând. Să nu mai fiu actriţa, nici spectatoarea propriei persoane. Să încetez să mă mai judec, să mă critic, să-mi percep impostura. Și, în cele din urmă, precum un cub de zahar în apă, să mă cufund în realitate si să mă dizolv în ea.
”
”
Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
“
Many social justice or social activist movements have been rooted in a position. A position is usually against something. Any position will call up its opposition. If I say up, it generates down. If I say right, it really creates left. If I say good, it creates bad. So a position creates its opposition. A stand is something quite distinct from that.
There are synonyms for “stand” such as “declaration” or “commitment,” but let me talk for just a few moments about the power of a stand. A stand comes from the heart, from the soul. A stand is always life affirming. A stand is always trustworthy. A stand is natural to who you are. When we use the phrase “take a stand” I’m really inviting you to un-cover, or “unconceal,” or recognize, or affirm, or claim the stand that you already are.
Stand-takers are the people who actually change the course of history and are the source of causing an idea’s time to come. Mahatma Gandhi was a stand-taker. He took a stand so powerful that it mobilized millions of people in a way that the completely unpredictable outcome of the British walking out of India did happen. And India became an independent nation. The stand that he took… or the stand that Martin Luther King, Jr. took or the stand that Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony took for women’s rights—those stands changed our lives today. The changes that have taken place in history as a result of the stand-takers are permanent changes, not temporary changes. The women in this room vote because those women took so powerful a stand that it moved the world.
And so the opportunity here is for us to claim the stand that we already are, not take a position against the macro economic system, or a position against this administration, although some of you may have those feelings. What’s way more powerful than that is taking a stand, which includes all positions, which allows all positions to be heard and reconsidered, and to begin to dissolve.
When you take a stand, it actually does shift the whole universe and unexpected, unpredictable things happen.
”
”
Lynne Twist
“
No sé su hay que tener mi edad para entender que a las mujeres uno nunca termina de entenderlas. Creo que existe un laberinto exclusivo de ellas y que a los hombres se nos permite atisbar desde afuera cuando ellas quieren, cuando nos invitan.
”
”
Sofía Segovia (El murmullo de las abejas)
“
Una mujer puede tener igualdad de derechos y ser verdaderamente libre sólo en un mundo de trabajo socializado, de armonía y justicia.
”
”
Alexandra Kollontai (Mujer y lucha de clases)
“
El pelo y las manos siempre le olían un poco a tierra, como a hierbas. Solía coger ramitas de romero, se las aplastaba en las manos y luego se las pasaba por el pelo
”
”
Taylor Jenkins Reid
“
To some women nothing fits better than the onset of ambition. Love makes them passive
”
”
Françoise Sagan (Dans un mois, dans un an)
“
Know this, sir, that for one women a specified time is a specified time. After a while sometimes is still time. But before a specified time there's never a time
”
”
Françoise Sagan (Dans un mois, dans un an)
“
La niña de once años que todas las mañanas recorre quince kilómetros en busca de leña para su familia desempeña un papel enorme en el desarrollo económico de su país. A pesar de ellos, su trabajo no es reconocido. La chica es invisible en las estadísticas económicas. En la magnitud del PIB, por la cual medimos la actividad económica de un país, ella no cuenta. Su actividad no se considera importante para la economía o para el crecimiento económico. Parir niños, criarlos, cultivar el huerto, hacerles la comida a los hermanos, ordeñar la vaca de la familia, coserles la ropa o cuidar de Adam Smith para que él pudiera escribir “La riqueza de las naciones”; nada de esto se considera “trabajo productivo” en los modelos económicos estándar. Fuera del alcance de la mano invisible se encuentra el sexo invisible.
”
”
Katrine Marçal (Who Cooked Adam Smith's Dinner? A Story About Women and Economics)
“
They were the sort who berated a man for meddling and chased him away, then berated him again for not being there when he was needed. Not that they would admit he was needed, even then, not them. Raise a hand to help and you were interfering, do nothing and you were an un-trustworthy wastrel.
”
”
Robert Jordan
“
La soledad es un concepto anglosajón. En Ciudad de México, si eres el único pasajero en un autobús y alguien sube, no solo se sentará a tu lado sino que se recostará en ti. (Del cuento Triste idiota)
”
”
Lucia Berlin (A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories)
“
¿A qué se debe que todas las mujeres piensan que la finalidad de su vida es tener un maridito y una casita gris en el oeste? ¿Qué clase de finalidad es ésa? ¿Por qué ha de ser ésa la finalidad de la vida?
”
”
D.H. Lawrence (Women in Love)
“
Tienes cicatrices, cicatrices feas, porque te hicieron algo feo, algo malvado. La gente ve las cicatrices. Pero también te ve a ti y tú no eres esas cicatrices. No eres fea. No eres malvada. Eres Therru y eres hermosa. Eres Therru, que puede trabajar y caminar y correr y bailar, hermosamente, con un vestido rojo.
”
”
Ursula K. Le Guin (Tehanu (Earthsea Cycle, #4))
“
The Government finally decided
To wage the war all-out. Defeat
is Un-American.
And they took to the air,
Their women beside them
in bouffant hairdos
putting nail-polish on the
gunship cannon-buttons.
And they never came down
for they found,
the ground
is Pro-Communist. And dirty.
And the insects side with the Viet Cong.
”
”
Gary Snyder (Turtle Island)
“
Attempts to locate oneself within history are as natural, and as absurd, as attempts to locate oneself within astronomy. On the day that I was born, 13 April 1949, nineteen senior Nazi officials were convicted at Nuremberg, including Hitler's former envoy to the Vatican, Baron Ernst von Weizsacker, who was found guilty of planning aggression against Czechoslovakia and committing atrocities against the Jewish people. On the same day, the State of Israel celebrated its first Passover seder and the United Nations, still meeting in those days at Flushing Meadow in Queens, voted to consider the Jewish state's application for membership. In Damascus, eleven newspapers were closed by the regime of General Hosni Zayim. In America, the National Committee on Alcoholism announced an upcoming 'A-Day' under the non-uplifting slogan: 'You can drink—help the alcoholic who can't.' ('Can't'?) The International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled in favor of Britain in the Corfu Channel dispute with Albania. At the UN, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko denounced the newly formed NATO alliance as a tool for aggression against the USSR. The rising Chinese Communists, under a man then known to Western readership as Mao Tze-Tung, announced a limited willingness to bargain with the still-existing Chinese government in a city then known to the outside world as 'Peiping.'
All this was unknown to me as I nuzzled my mother's breast for the first time, and would certainly have happened in just the same way if I had not been born at all, or even conceived. One of the newspaper astrologists for that day addressed those whose birthday it was:
There are powerful rays from the planet Mars, the war god, in your horoscope for your coming year, and this always means a chance to battle if you want to take it up. Try to avoid such disturbances where women relatives or friends are concerned, because the outlook for victory upon your part in such circumstances is rather dark. If you must fight, pick a man!
Sage counsel no doubt, which I wish I had imbibed with that same maternal lactation, but impartially offered also to the many people born on that day who were also destined to die on it.
”
”
Christopher Hitchens (Hitch 22: A Memoir)
“
Yes, it’s unfortunate that we have been conditioned to see an alternative to motherhood as not normal. But you do all realise that some of the most brilliant women in the world don’t have kids, right? Oprah, Gloria Steinem, Helen Mirren, Dolly Parton? Do you think their lives carry an air of tragedy because they never had children? I don’t. I’m sure they all had different reasons for not doing it, some maybe couldn’t, some didn’t want to, but these women’s lives are not empty because of that. I think it’s important we take the lead from our heroes and for everyone to stop valuing women on whether they do, or do not, become mothers. The irony of yours and your listeners’ opinions is that it is you boxing women in to these roles, not men. It’s highly un-feminist of you.’ She
”
”
Dawn O'Porter (The Cows)
“
The summer of 1950 was the hottest in living memory, with high humidity and temperatures above 100 F. My mother had been washing every day, and she was attacked for this, too. Peasants, especially in the North where Mrs. Mi came from, washed very rarely, because of the shortage of water. In the guerrillas, men and women used to compete to see who had the most 'revolutionary insects' (lice).
Cleanliness was regarded as un proletarian When the steamy summer turned into cool autumn my father's bodyguard weighed in with a new accusation: my mother was 'behaving like a Kuomintang official's grand lady' because she had used my father's leftover hot water. At the time, in order to save fuel, there was a rule that only officials above a certain rank were entitled to wash with hot water.
My father fell into this group, but my mother did not. She had been strongly advised by the women in my father's family not to touch cold water when she came near to delivery time. After the bodyguard's criticism, my father would not let my mother use his water. My mother felt like screaming at him for not taking her side against the endless intrusions into the most irrelevant recesses of her life.
”
”
Jung Chang (Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China)
“
Le privilège économique détenu par les hommes, leur valeur sociale, le prestige du mariage, l'utilité d'un appui masculin, tout engage les femmes à vouloir ardenment plaire aux hommes. Elles sont encore dans l'ensemble en situation de vassalité. Il s'ensuit que la femme se connaît et se choisit non en tant qu'elle existe pour soi mais telle que l'homme la définit.
”
”
Simone de Beauvoir (Le deuxième sexe, I)
“
The Christians we knew were angry about the burkas we saw on the news. It was un-Christian, they said, to force women to be invisible and uniform. But I silently laughed at that. American Christians had burkas too. I wore one. The denim jumper was the American burka.
”
”
Tia Levings (A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy)
“
The ungodly put the ungodly in office. And now we’re expecting them to be godly and treat us with love and kindness? It is impossible for the ungodly to elect the ungodly and then expect godliness to come from them. The corrupt elect the corrupt and the corruption continues. The depraved elect the depraved and the depravity continues. If you want kindness, love, peace, patience, goodness, and faithfulness—the characteristics you will find in godly men and women—you better get godly in a hurry and elect as many godly politicians as you can.
”
”
Phil Robertson (unPHILtered: The Way I See It)
“
essere donna è così affascinante. È un'avventura che richiede un tale coraggio, una sfida che non annoia mai. Avrai tante cose da intraprendere se nascerai donna. Per incominciare, avrai da batterti per sostenere che se Dio esistesse potrebbe anche essere una vecchia coi capelli bianchi o una bella ragazza. Poi avrai da batterti per spiegare che il peccato non nacque il giorno in cui Eva colse una mela: quel giorno nacque una splendida virtù chiamata disubbidienza. Infine avrai da batterti per dimostrare che dentro il tuo corpo liscio e rotondo c'è un'intelligenza che urla d'essere ascoltata.
”
”
Oriana Fallaci
“
Sin embargo, cuando leemos algo sobre una bruja zambullida en agua, una mujer poseída de los demonios, una sabia mujer que vendía hierbas o incluso un hombre muy notable que tenía una madre, nos hallamos, creo, sobre la pista de una novelista malograda, una poetisa reprimida, alguna Jane Austen muda y desconocida, alguna Emily Brontë que se machacó los sesos en los páramos o anduvo haciendo muecas por las carreteras, enloquecida por la tortura en que su don la hacía vivir. Me aventuraría a decir que Anónimo, que escribió tantos poemas sin firmarlos, era a menudo una mujer. Según sugiere, creo, Edward Fitzgerald, fue una mujer quien compuso las baladas y las canciones folklóricas, canturreándolas a sus niños, entreteniéndose mientras hilaba o durante las largas noches de invierno.
Quizás esto sea cierto, quizá sea falso —¿quién lo sabe?—, pero lo que sí me pareció a mí, repasando la historia de la hermana de Shakespeare tal como me la había imaginado, definitivamente cierto, es que cualquier mujer nacida en el siglo dieciséis con un gran talento se hubiera vuelto loca, se hubiera suicidado o hubiera acabado sus días en alguna casa solitaria en las afueras del pueblo, medio bruja, medio hechicera, objeto de temor y burlas.
”
”
Virginia Woolf (A Room of One’s Own)
“
Son preguntas inútiles. La única razón por la que he vivido tanto tiempo es porque fui soltando lastre del pasado. Cierro la puerta a la pena al pesar al remordimiento. Si permito que entren, aunque sea por una rendija de autocompasión, zas, la puerta se abrirá de golpe y una tempestad de dolor me desgarrará el corazón y cegará mis ojos de vergüenza rompiendo tazas y botellas derribando frascos rompiendo las ventanas tropezando sangrienta sobre azúcar derramado y vidrios rotos aterrorizada entre arcadas hasta que con un estremecimiento y sollozo final consiga cerrar la pesada puerta. Y recoja los pedazos una vez más.
”
”
Lucia Berlin (A Manual for Cleaning Women: Selected Stories)
“
And right now, some affiliates of the promiscuous persuasion were beckoning, urging the women to join their huge orgy.
‘Come have a go, ladyships!’ said one of the strumpets. Stella mustered a look so disapproving it made steel feel guilty for being hard. Unabated, the prostitute lit herself a cigarette and winked suggestively.
‘Will make it worth your while and no trouble.’
‘Er.’
The strumpet sucked on her cigarette with gusto and hastily turned to Aurora. Under the heavy theatrical greasepaint, she saw a hint of black stubble.
‘What about you, hon? Ever swallowed a sword with its sheath?’
‘Once,’ said Aurora through a wooden expression. ‘It didn’t end too well for the sword.’
‘Oh leave ‘em be, Kevin,’ another strumpet butted in, as she adjusted the apples in her corset. She had a tall voice, coarse, rugged and edged; the sort of edge you cut protons on. ‘Doncha see they ‘av a lil’un with ‘em?’
‘And I’ve a wife. What’s your point, Steve?’ the drag queen retorted.
‘Yer wife’s a corpse, mate.’
‘Guess that makes me a necromancer.
”
”
Louise Blackwick (5 Stars)
“
Mentre scrivo queste righe a Sydney, una splendida coppia di pappagalli verdi con il petto arancione è accovacciata sul tetto dell'edificio accanto e sta nutrendo il proprio cucciolo.
Se gli uccelli possono provare un simile sentimento e non abbandonare mai le loro creature, com'è possibile che degli esseri umani rinuncino ripetutamente ai loro figli?
”
”
Xinran (The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices)
“
UN Committee deliberates on persecution of the SPH #Nithyananda Paramashivam and millions of Hindu women and girls, #UnitedNationsRecognisesPersecutionOnTheSPHNithyanandaAndKailasa
”
”
SPH Nithyananda
“
UN Committee acknowledges and deliberates on, the silenced cries of molested Hindu
girls and women #UnitedNationsRecognisesPersecutionOnTheSPHNithyanandaAndKailasa
”
”
SPH Nithyananda
“
Vaya si lo llevaré, es estupendo... ligero y amplio. Nos hará reír a todos y, con tal de estar cómoda, me tiene sin cuidado ir hecha un desastre.
”
”
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women (Little Women, #1))
“
¿Verdad que estamos bien? ¡Fuera, mamarracho! ¡Cállese usted la boca! ¡Dame un beso, rica! ¡Ah, ah!
”
”
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women (Little Women, #1))
“
Los seres amados se muestran con frecuencia ciegos con respecto a un ser querido
”
”
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)
“
El
día en que a la mujer le sea posible amar con su fuerza, no con su debilidad, no para huirse,
sino para hallarse, no para destituirse, sino para afirmarse, entonces el amor será para ella,
como para el hombre, fuente de vida y no de mortal peligro. Mientras tanto, resume en su
figura más patética la maldición que pesa sobre la mujer encerrada en el universo femenino, la
mujer mutilada, incapaz de bastarse a sí misma. Las innumerables mártires del amor son un
testimonio contra la injusticia de un destino que les propone como última salvación un estéril
infierno
”
”
Simone de Beauvoir (The Second Sex)
“
… a woman that has a career is looked at as self-sufficient and her own man; she may not need one in her life. She is seen as lacking femininity, household un-savvy, and not a wife material.
”
”
Fatima Mohammed (Higher Heels, Bigger Dreams)
“
M'accorsi, camminando, che ripensavo a quella sera diciassette anni prima, quando avevo lasciato Torino, quando avevo deciso che una persona può amarne un'altra più di sé, eppure io stessa sapevo bene che volevo soltanto uscir fuori, metter piede nel mondo, e mi occorreva quella scusa, quel pretesto, per fare il passo. La sciocchezza, l'allegra incoscienza di Guido quando aveva creduto di portarmi con sé e mantenermi - sapevo già tutto fin dal principio. Lo lasciai fare, provare, dibattersi. L'aiutavo persino, uscivo prima dal lavoro per tenergli compagnia. Quello il mio broncio e malvolere, secondo Morelli. Avevo riso e fatto ridere tre mesi il mio Guido: era servito a qualcosa? Nemmeno di piantarmi lui era stato capace. Non si può amare un altro più di se stessi.
Chi non si salva da sé, non lo salva nessuno.
”
”
Cesare Pavese (Among Women Only)
“
Nunca, hasta que sea vieja y no pueda moverme más que con un bastón. No intentes hacerme crecer antes de tiempo Meg; bastante duro es ya verte cambiar a ti de repente. Déjame ser niña todo el tiempo que pueda.
”
”
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women (Little Women, #1))
“
Men and women who venture to someone else’s war through choice do so in a variety of guises. UN general, BBC correspondent, aid worker, mercenary: in the final analysis they all want the same thing, a hit off the action, a walk on the dark side. It’s just a question of how slick a cover you give yourself, and how far you want to go. If you find a cause later then hold on to it, but never blind yourself with your own disguise. I
”
”
Anthony Loyd (My War Gone By, I Miss It So)
“
Es fácil reconocer el alma de una mujer en su manera de marcar un libro (atenta, minuciosa, personal, provocadora), porque si uno ama a una persona, hasta las discretas señales que deja en un libro se parecen a ella.
”
”
Ricardo Piglia (El camino de Ida)
“
Answering the question 'How would you like to smell?' by saying 'I'd rather I didn't' is also no longer acceptable. It's not playing the game. Men are expected to put some cash into the cosmetic pot too - it's seen as almost un-feminist not to. What a uniquely capitalist response to that gender inequality: women have been forced by convention for generations - millennia - to spend money on expensive clothes and agonising shoes, to daub themselves with reality-concealing slap, to smell expensively inhuman, to self-mutilate in pursuit of eternal youth; and this, quite rightly, has come to be deemed unfair. But how do we end this hell? We make men do it too. Well done everyone.
”
”
David Mitchell
“
The SPH #Nithyananda Paramashivam stood for Women empowerment, a basic tenet of Hinduism, and faced persecution in retaliation. UN Committee acknowledges these attacks.
#UnitedNationsRecognisesPersecutionOnTheSPHNithyanandaAndKailasa
”
”
SPH Nithyananda
“
- Estar holgazaneando y divirtiéndose a todas horas no resulta.- observó Jo- Yo estoy canda de ello y quiero ponerme a trabajar en algo.
- Podrías aprender a guisar; es un arte muy útil que ninguna mujer debiera ignorar.- dijo la señora March.
”
”
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women (Little Women, #1))
“
Il arrive un âge où ils ne sont plus séduisants, ni «en forme», comme on dit. Ils ne peuvent plus boire et ils pensent encore aux femmes; seulement ils sont obligés de les payer, d'accepter des quantités de petites compromissions pour échapper à leur solitude. Ils sont bernés, malheureux. C'est ce moment qu'ils choisissent pour devenir sentimentaux et exigeants… J'en ai vu beaucoup devenir ainsi des sortes d'épaves.
"A time comes when they are no longer attractive or in good form. They can't drink any more, and they still hanker after women, only then they have to pay and make compromises in order to escape from their loneliness: they have become just figures of fun. They grow sentimental and hard to please. I have
seen many who have gone the same way.
”
”
Françoise Sagan (Bonjour tristesse)
“
Lamento que las mujeres sean sistemáticamente degradadas al recibir atenciones triviales que los hombres creen viril prestar al sexo, cuando, de hecho, mantienen así de forma insultante su propia superioridad. No es condescendiente inclinarse ante un inferior. Tan ridículas, de hecho, me parecen esas ceremonias, que apenas soy capaz de controlar mi reacción cuando veo a un hombre recoger un pañuelo o cerrar una puerta, con entusiasta y seria solicitud, cuando la "dama" podría haberlo hecho sola con sólo dar un paso o dos (p.118).
”
”
Mary Wollstonecraft (Vindication of the Rights of Women)
“
Estaba por todas partes. En los eufemismos y las lítotes de mi agenda, en los ojos saltones de Jean T., en los matrimonios forzados, en el filme "Los paraguas de Cheburgo", en la vergüenza de las mujeres que abortaban y en la reprobación de las otras. En la imposibilidad absoluta de imaginar que un día las mujeres pudieran decidir abortar libremente. Y, como de costumbre, era imposible determinar si el aborto estaba prohibido porque estaba mal o estaba mal porque estaba prohibido. Se juzgaba con relación a la ley, no se juzgaba la ley.
”
”
Annie Ernaux (Happening)
“
Avem o anume senzaţie că aparţinem acelui bărbat - partener de dans - care ne lasă să executăm paşii pe care-i ştim deja. Cu el şi nu cu altul, hotărâm să stabilim relaţia pe care s-o facem să meargă. Nu există o substanţă chimică mai atrăgătoare decât sentimentul de tainică familiaritate apărut când se întâlnesc un bărbat şi o femeie ale căror modele de comportament se îmbină perfect ca piesele dintr-un joc de puzzle. (...) cu cât a fost mai mare durerea în copilărie, cu atât e mai puternic impulsul de a o reconstitui şi stăpâni la maturitate.
”
”
Robin Norwood (Women Who Love Too Much: When You Keep Wishing and Hoping He'll Change)
“
C’erano parecchie cose che mi facevano diventare sentimentale: le scarpe di una donna sotto il letto; una forcina dimenticata sul tavolo da toilette; quel loro modo di dire: <>; i nastri per capelli; camminare lungo il boulevard all’1.30 di pomeriggio, due persone, un uomo e una donna, insieme; le lunghe notti passate a bere e a fumare, a parlare; le liti; il pensiero del suicidio; mangiare insieme e star bene; le battute, le risate senza senso; sentire la magia nell’aria, star chiusi insieme in una macchina parcheggiata; parlare dei propri amori finiti alle 3 di notte; sentirsi dire che si russa, sentirla russare; madri, figlie, figli, gatti, cani; a volte la morte e a volte il divorzio, me sempre andare fino in fondo; leggere il giornale da solo in una tavola calda e avere la nausea perché lei adesso è la moglie di un dentista con un quoziente di intelligenza di 95; gli ippodromi, i parchi, i picnic al parco; perfino le galere; i suoi amici noiosi, i tuoi amici noiosi; il tuo bere, il suo ballare; il suo flirtare, il tuo flirtare; le sue pillole, le tue scopate clandestine, le sue scopate clandestine; dormire insieme…
”
”
Charles Bukowski (Women)
“
Alcenith Crawford (a divorced ophthalmologist): "We women doctors have un-happy marriages because in our minds we are the superstars of our families. Having survived the hardship of medical school we expect to reap our rewards at home. We had to assert ourselves against all odds and when we finally graduate there are few shrinking violets amongst us. It takes a special man to be able to cope. Men like to feel important and be the undisputed head of the family. A man does not enjoy waiting for his wife while she performs life-saving operations. He expects her and their children to revolve around his needs, not the other way. But we have become accustomed to giving orders in hospitals and having them obeyed. Once home, it's difficult to adjust. Moreover, we often earn more than our husbands. It takes a generous and exceptional man to forgive all that.
”
”
Adeline Yen Mah (Falling Leaves)
“
Woman This Is Your Year.
To be blessed by everything you hate, to shift from suffering to ecstasy of ache. This is your year to no longer be who you were, to rise from the embers, to be guided by Her. This is your year to be carried by grace, out of the matrix and away from the race. This is your year to be the clear-visioned goddess, to bear the heaviness of crown, a sacred promise. This is your year to live the life of your dreams, to heal, to witness, to be the one who queens. This is your year to forever change the rest, to un-tame, to shift, to lead, and to live blessed.
”
”
Tanya Markul, The She Book
“
Trovate degli orari regolari per il lavoro e per il divertimento, fate che ogni giorno sia utile e piacevole, e dimostrate che capire il valore del tempo usandolo bene. Così la giovinezza sarà deliziosa, la vecchiaia porterà pochi rimpianti, e la vita sarà un bel successo, nonostante la povertà.
”
”
Louisa May Alcott (Little Women (Little Women, #1))
“
Over the years I've come to expect being groped in gay bars. Complaining about this unwanted touching is often deemed sex-negative, un-queer or even homophobic. Touching in gay bars is often seen as an acceptable form of cruising. [...] I've also witnessed gay men grabbing women's breasts many times on the dance floor. When asked to stop, some have replied 'Don't worry I'm gay! I'm not into girls!" Not being into girls, however, is sometimes less about sexual preference and more about disdain. Is grabbing women's breasts a way to make women feel unsafe and therefore keep them out of gay bars?
”
”
Vivek Shraya (I'm Afraid of Men.)
“
To love a woman, the mate must also love her untamed nature. If she takes a mate who cannot or will not love this other side, she shall surely in some way be dismantled and be left to limp about unrepaired.
So men, as much as women, must name their dual natures. The most valued lover, the most valuable parent, the most valued friend, the most valuable “wilderman,” is the one who wishes to learn. Those who are not delighted by learning, those who cannot be enticed into new ideas or experiences, cannot develop past the road post they rest at now. If there is but one force which feeds the root of pain, it is the refusal to learn beyond this moment.
”
”
Clarissa Pinkola Estés (Women Who Run With the Wolves)
“
A la hija pequeña de Salome, Miep, la violentaron los hombres entre dos y tres veces distintas, pero Peters ha prohibido que la niña, que tiene tres años, reciba tratamiento médico, alegando que el médico difundiría rumores sobre la colonia y la gente sabría lo de las agresiones y convertirían todo el incidente en un escándalo.
”
”
Miriam Toews (Women Talking)
“
The result of this one-sided patriarchal stance, demonstrable in all areas of life, is an un integrated man who is attacked by his repressed side and often enough overwhelmed by it. This transpires not only in the fate of the individual man as seduction by a "lower" anima, but equally through seduction by a compensatory ideology, for example materialism, to which "spirit" men are especially susceptible.
The man wants to remain exclusively masculine and out of fear rejects the transformative contact with a woman of equal status. Negativizing the Feminine in the patriarchate prevents the man from experiencing woman as a thou of equal but different status, and hence from coming to terms with her. The consequence of the patriarchal male's haughtiness toward women leads to the inability to make any genuine contact with the Feminine, i.e., not only in a real woman but also with the Feminine in himself, the unconscious. Whenever an integral relationship to the Feminine remains undeveloped, however, this means that, due to his fear, the male is unable to break through to his own wholeness that also embraces the Feminine. Thus the patriarchal culture's separation from the Feminine and from the unconscious becomes one of the essential causes for the crisis of fear in which the patriarchal world now finds itself.
”
”
Erich Neumann (The Fear of the Feminine and Other Essays on Feminine Psychology)
“
So, the women he's loved. Who knew nothing of satisfaction. Who having gotten what they wanted always promptly wanted more. Not greedy. Never greedy... They were doers and thinkers and lovers and seekers and givers, but dreamers, most dangerously of all.
They were dreamer-women.
Very dangerous women.
Who looked at the world through their wide dreamer-eyes and saw it not as it was, "brutal, senseless," etc., but worse, as it might be or might yet become.
So, insatiable women.
Un-pleasable women.
Who wanted above all things that could not be had. Not what THEY could not have--no such thing for such women--but what wasn't there to be had in the first place.
”
”
Taiye Selasi (Ghana Must Go)
“
Se amava quel viso non indulgente, era perché era netto, espressivo e risoluto.
Vedeva, o gli sembrava di vedere, come tali qualità fossero state mascherate o soffocate da atteggiamenti più convenzionali: una modestia simulata, un'appropriata pazienza, un disprezzo che si spacciava per calma. Al suo peggio - oh, lui la vedeva chiaramente, malgrado la possessione che esercitava su di lui - al suo peggio guardava in basso e di traverso e sorrideva timidamente, e questo sorriso era quasi una smorfia meccanica, perché era una bugia, una convenzione, un breve forzato riconoscimento delle aspettative del mondo. Lu aveva visto subito, così gli pareva, ciò che lei era in essenza, seduta alla tavola di Crabb Robinson ad ascoltare dispute maschili, credendosi osservatrice inosservata. Se, rifletté, la maggior parte degli uomini avesse visto la durezza e la fierezza e la tirannia, sì, la tirannia di quel volto, se ne sarebbe ritratta. Il suo destino sarebbe stato di essere amata solo da timidi inetti, segretamente desiderosi che lei li punisse o li comandasse, o da anime candide, convinte che la fredda aria di delicato riserbo esprimesse una sorta di purezza femminile che tutti a quei tempi facevano mostra di desiderare. Ma lui aveva capito immediatamente che lei era per lui, che lei aveva qualcosa in comune con lui, lei com'era veramente o avrebbe potuto essere, se fosse stata libera.
”
”
A.S. Byatt (Possession)
“
Vosotros los jóvenes no sabéis apreciar las cosas, proseguía. No sabéis lo que hemos tenido que pasar para lograr que estéis donde estáis. Míralo, es él quien pela las zanahorias. ¿Sabéis cuántas vidas de mujeres, cuántos cuerpos de mujeres han tenido que arrollar los tanques para llegar a esta situación?
La cocina es mi pasatiempo predilecto, decía Luke. Disfruto cocinando.
Un pasatiempo muy original, replicaba mi madre. No tienes por qué darme explicaciones. En otros tiempos no te habrían permitido tener semejante pasatiempo, te habrían llamado marica.
Vamos, madre, le decía yo. No discutamos por tonterías.
Tonterías, repetía amargamente. Las llamas tonterías. Veo que no entiendes. No entiendes nada de lo que estoy diciendo.
”
”
Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale (The Handmaid's Tale, #1))
“
holy cards; they’re the ones with Gott mit uns on their belts. German priests’re telling them they’re fighting a holy war against us. We’re busy making martyrs of each other, fighting Godlessness. Same religions sending us all to the same heaven. We won’t be able to turn around up there. All young guys, no girls, no women, no old people, no priests.’ I’m awake now. Amazing
”
”
William Wharton (A Midnight Clear)
“
Sixsmith,
Eva. Because her name is a synonym for temptation: what treads nearer to the core of man? Because her soul swims in her eyes. Because I dream of creeping through the velvet folds to her room, where I let myself in, hum her a tune so-so-so softly, she stands with her naked feet on mine, her ear to my heart, and we waltz like string puppets. After that kiss, she says, “Vous embrassez comme un poisson rouge!” and in moonlight mirrors we fall in love with our youth and beauty. Because all my life, sophisticated, idiotic women have taken it upon themselves to understand me, to cure me, but Eva knows I’m terra incognita and explores me unhurriedly, like you did. Because she’s lean as a boy. Because her scent is almonds, meadow grass. Because if I smile at her ambition to be an Egyptologist, she kicks my shin under the table. Because she makes me think about something other than myself. Because even when serious she shines. Because she prefers travelogues to Sir Walter Scott, prefers Billy Mayerl to Mozart, and couldn’t tell C major from a sergeant major. Because I, only I, see her smile a fraction before it reaches her face. Because Emperor Robert is not a good man—his best part is commandeered by his unperformed music—but she gives me that rarest smile, anyway. Because we listened to nightjars. Because her laughter spurts through a blowhole in the top of her head and sprays all over the morning. Because a man like me has no business with this substance “beauty,” yet here she is, in these soundproofed chambers of my heart.
Sincerely, R.F.
”
”
David Mitchell (Cloud Atlas)
“
I was never a child; I never had a childhood. I cannot count among my memories warm, golden days of childish intoxication, long joyous hours of innocence, or the thrill of discovering the universe anew each day. I learned of such things later on in life from books. Now I guess at their presence in the children I see. I was more than twenty when I first experienced something similar in my self, in chance moments of abandonment, when I was at peace with the world. Childhood is love; childhood is gaiety; childhood knows no cares. But I always remember myself, in the years that have gone by, as lonely, sad, and thoughtful.
Ever since I was a little boy I have felt tremendously alone―and "peculiar".
I don't know why.
It may have been because my family was poor or because I was not born the way other children are born; I cannot tell. I remember only that when I was six or seven years old a young aunt of mind called me vecchio―"old man," and the nickname was adopted by all my family. Most of the time I wore a long, frowning face. I talked very little, even with other children; compliments bored me; baby-talk angered me. Instead of the noisy play of the companions of my boyhood I preferred the solitude of the most secluded corners of our dark, cramped, poverty-stricken home. I was, in short, what ladies in hats and fur coats call a "bashful" or a "stubborn" child; and what our women with bare heads and shawls, with more directness, call a rospo―a "toad."
They were right.
I must have been, and I was, utterly unattractive to everybody. I remember, too, that I was well aware of the antipathy I aroused. It made me more "bashful," more "stubborn," more of a "toad" than ever. I did not care to join in the games played by other boys, but preferred to stand apart, watching them with jealous eyes, judging them, hating them. It wasn't envy I felt at such times: it was contempt; it was scorn. My warfare with men had begun even then and even there. I avoided people, and they neglected me. I did not love them, and they hated me. At play in the parks some of the boys would chase me; others would laugh at me and call me names. At school they pulled my curls or told the teachers tales about me. Even on my grandfather's farm in the country peasant brats threw stones at me without provocation, as if they felt instinctively that I belonged to some other breed.
”
”
Giovanni Papini (Un uomo finito)
“
Suprimid esta protección, someted a las mujeres a las mismas actividades y esfuerzos que los hombres, haced de ellas soldados, marinos, maquinistas y repartidores y ¿acaso las mujeres no morirán mucho más jóvenes, mucho antes que los hombres y uno dirá: «Hoy he visto a una mujer», como antes solía decir: «Hoy he visto un aeroplano»? No se sabe lo que ocurrirá cuando el ser mujer ya no sea una ocupación protegida, pensé abriendo la puerta.
”
”
Virginia Woolf (Un cuarto propio)
“
People who think that queer life consists of sex without intimacy are usually seeing only a tiny part of the picture, and seeing it through homophobic stereotype. The most fleeting sexual encounter is, in its way intimate. And in the way many gay men and lesbians live, quite casual sexual relations can develop into powerful and enduring friendships. Friendships, in turn, can cross into sexual relations and back. Because gay social life is not as ritualized and institutionalized as straight life, each relation is an adventure in nearly un-charted territory—whether it is between two gay men, or two lesbians, or a gay man and a lesbian, or among three or more queers, or between gay men and the straight women whose commitment to queer culture brings them the punishment of the "fag hag" label. There are almost as many kinds of relationship as there are people in combination. Where there are -patterns, we learn them from other queers, not from our-parents or schools or the state. Between tricks and lovers and exes and friends and fuckbuddies and bar friends and bar friends' tricks and tricks' bar friends and gal pals and companions "in the life," queers have an astonishing range of intimacies. Most have no labels. Most receive no public recognition. Many of these relations are difficult because the rules have to be invented as we go along. Often desire and unease add to their intensity, and their unpredictability. They can be complex and bewildering, in a way that arouses fear among many gay people, and tremendous resistance and resentment from many straight people. Who among us would give them up?
Try standing at a party of queer friends and charting all the histories, sexual and nonsexual, among the people in the room. (In some circles this is a common party sport already.) You will realize that only a fine and rapidly shifting line separates sexual culture from many other relations of durability and care. The impoverished vocabulary of straight culture tells us that people should be either husbands and wives or (nonsexual) friends. Marriage marks that line. It is not the way many queers live. If there is such a thing as a gay way of life, it consists in these relations, a welter of intimacies outside the framework of professions and institutions and ordinary social obligations. Straight culture has much to learn from it, and in many ways has already begun to learn from it. Queers should be insisting on teaching these lessons. Instead, the marriage issue, as currently framed, seems to be a way of denying recognition to these relations, of streamlining queer relations into the much less troubling division of couples from friends.
”
”
Michael Warner (The Trouble with Normal: Sex, Politics, and the Ethics of Queer Life)
“
Vive nel verde che sbuca tra la neve, vive negli steli fruscianti del morente grano d'autunno, vive dove i morti vengono per un bacio, e i vivi inviano loro preghiere. Vive nel luogo in cui si fa il linguaggio. Vive di poesia e percussione e canto. Vive di quarti di tono e di note di passaggio, e in una cantata, in una sestina, nei blues. E' l'attimo che precede l'ispirazione che ci abbaglia. Vive in un luogo lontano che si apre un varco verso il nostro mondo.
”
”
Clarissa Pinkola Estés (Women Who Run With the Wolves)
“
Lo sguardo delle donne assomiglia a certi congegni tranquilli in apparenza ma formidabili.
Vi si passa vicino tutti i giorni pacificamente e impunemente, senza dubitare di nulla. Viene il momento in cui ci si dimentica anche che quella cosa è là. Si va, si viene, si sogna, si parla, si ride. A un tratto ci si sente presi! E' finita. Il congegno vi ha preso, lo sguardo vi ha catturato.
Vi ha preso, non importa dove, né come, per una parte qualsiasi del vostro pensiero, per una distrazione. Un concatenamento di forze misteriose si impadronisce di voi. Vi dibattete invano. Non ci sono più soccorsi umani possibili. Cadete di ingranaggio in ingranaggio, di angoscia in angoscia, di tortura in tortura, voi, il vostro spirito, le vostre fortune, il vostro avvenire, l'anima vostra; e, a seconda che siate in potere di una creatura cattiva o di un nobile cuore, non uscirete da quella spaventosa macchina che sfigurato dalla vergogna o trasfigurato dalla passione.
”
”
Victor Hugo (Les Misérables)
“
Pero casi sin excepción se describe a la mujer desde el punto de vista de su relación con hombres. Era extraño que, hasta Jane Austen, todos los personajes femeninos importantes de la literatura no sólo hubieran sido vistos exclusivamente por el otro sexo, sino desde el punto de vista de su relación con el otro sexo. Y ésta es una parte tan pequeña de la vida de una mujer… Y qué poco puede un hombre saber siquiera de esto observándolo a través de las gafas negras o rosadas que la sexualidad le coloca sobre la nariz.
”
”
Virginia Woolf (Un cuarto propio)
“
After Kristallnacht, tight U.S. immigration laws were relaxed somewhat, allowing a trickle of people who wanted to leave Europe to enter the United States. Many of those given priority in a first wave of immigration were artists, writers, composers, and scientists, but even that very circumscribed immigration caused alarm. As late as 1939, 95 percent of Americans did not want any part of a European war.15 And, with the country’s economy still fragile, many people resented those fleeing it as needy hordes who would compete for scarce jobs and dwindling government support. Anti-immigration forces in Congress used fear as an excuse to deny foreigners entry. The House Committee on Un-American Activities was established in 1938 to investigate newcomers suspected of being communists or spies.16 Alarm and insecurity in some soon hardened into paranoia and hatred. In February 1939, twenty-two thousand people marched through Manhattan, giving fascist salutes and carrying U.S. flags as well as banners with swastikas, toward a pro-Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden.
”
”
Mary Gabriel (Ninth Street Women: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler: Five Painters and the Movement That Changed Modern Art (LITTLE, BROWN A))
“
Espero que mi propio sexo me disculpe si trato a las mujeres como criaturas racionales en vez de halagar sus encantos fascinantes y considerarlas como si estuvieran en un estado de eterna infancia, incapaces de valerse por sí mismas. Deseo de veras mostrar en qué consiste la verdadera dignidad y la felicidad humana. Deseo persuadir a las mujeres para que intenten adquirir fortaleza, tanto de mente como de cuerpo, y convencerlas de que las frases suaves, la sensibilidad de corazón, la delicadeza de sentimientos y el gusto refinado son casi sinónimos de epítetos de la debilidad, y que aquellos seres que son sólo objetos de piedad, y de esa clase de amor que ha sido denominada como su hermana, pronto se convertirán en objetos de desprecio.
Desechando, pues, esas bellas frases femeninas que los hombres utilizan con condescendencia para dulcificar nuestra dependencia servil, y despreciando esa débil elegancia de mente, esa sensibilidad exquisita y dulce docilidad de conducta que se supone constituyen las características sexuales del recipiente más frágil, deseo mostrar que la elegancia es inferior a la virtud, que el primer objetivo de una loable ambición es adquirir un carácter como ser humano, sin tener en cuenta la distinción de sexo (p. 50-51).
”
”
Mary Wollstonecraft (Vindication of the Rights of Women)
“
Beth pensou por uns instantes, e então disse calmamente:
— Não sei como me expressar, e não deveria tentar fazê-lo com ninguém você, porque não sou capaz de falar livremente, senão para a minha Jo querida. Só quero dizer que tenho a sensação de que não fui feita para viver por muito tempo. Não sou como todas vocês, nunca fiz planos sobre o que faria quando crescesse; nunca pensei em me casar, como todas vocês fizeram. Não conseguia me imaginar senão como a Beth bobinha, correndo pela casa, sem utilidade em qualquer outro lugar, exceto lá. Nunca quis ir embora, e a parte difícil agora é deixar vocês todos. Não tenho medo, mas parece que vou sentir saudade de vocês mesmo no céu.
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Louisa May Alcott
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A mesura que s'allargassaven les ombres ens anàvem desplaçant una vegada i una altra un xic més cap al sol, fins que va desaparèixer la claror i l'Ona, amb una rialla, va alçar el puny cap a la posta, cridant-li traïdor i covard. Se'm va acudir la idea d'explicar-lo la qüestió dels hemisferis, el fet que ens toca compartir el sol amb altres bandes del món, que si observéssim la Terra des de l'espai podríem veure fins a quinze sortides i postes de sol en un dia, i que potser, en compartir el sol, el món podria aprendre a compartir-ho tot, podria prendre consciència que tot és de tothom! Però em vaig limitar a fer un gest d'assentiment amb el cap. Sí, el sol és un covard. Com jo.
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Miriam Toews (Women Talking)
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Eccola dunque col pensiero laggiù.
Le par d’essere ancora fanciulla, arrampicata sul belvedere del prete, in una sera di maggio. Una grande luna di rame sorge dal mare, e tutto il mondo pare d’oro e di perla. La fisarmonica riempie coi suoi gridi lamentosi il cortile illuminato da un fuoco d’alaterni il cui chiarore rossastro fa spiccare sul grigio del muro la figura svelta e bruna del suonatore, i visi violacei delle donne e dei ragazzi che ballano il ballo sardo. Le ombre si muovono fantastiche sull’erba calpestata e sui muri della chiesa; brillano i bottoni d’oro, i galloni argentei dei costumi, i tasti della fisarmonica: il resto si perde nella penombra perlacea della notte lunare. Noemi ricordava di non aver mai preso parte diretta alla festa, mentre le sorelle maggiori ridevano e si divertivano, e Lia accovacciata come una lepre in un angolo erboso del cortile forse fin da quel tempo meditava la fuga.
La festa durava nove giorni di cui gli ultimi tre diventavano un ballo tondo continuo accompagnato da suoni e canti: Noemi stava sempre sul belvedere, tra gli avanzi del banchetto; intorno a lei scintillavano le bottiglie vuote, i piatti rotti, qualche mela d’un verde ghiacciato, un vassoio e un cucchiaino dimenticati; anche le stelle oscillavano sopra il cortile come scosse dal ritmo della danza. No, ella non ballava, non rideva, ma le bastava veder la gente a divertirsi perché sperava di poter anche lei prender parte alla festa della vita.
Ma gli anni eran passati e la festa della vita s’era svolta lontana dal paesetto, e per poterne prender parte sua sorella Lia era fuggita di casa…
Lei, Noemi, era rimasta sul balcone cadente della vecchia dimora come un tempo sul belvedere del prete.
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Grazia Deledda (Reeds in the Wind)
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I can hardly believe that our nation’s policy is to seek peace by going to war. It seems that President Donald J. Trump has done everything in his power to divert our attention away from the fact that the FBI is investigating his association with Russia during his campaign for office. For several weeks now he has been sabre rattling and taking an extremely controversial stance, first with Syria and Afghanistan and now with North Korea. The rhetoric has been the same, accusing others for our failed policy and threatening to take autonomous military action to attain peace in our time.
This gunboat diplomacy is wrong. There is no doubt that Secretaries Kelly, Mattis, and other retired military personnel in the Trump Administration are personally tough. However, most people who have served in the military are not eager to send our young men and women to fight, if it is not necessary. Despite what may have been said to the contrary, our military leaders, active or retired, are most often the ones most respectful of international law. Although the military is the tip of the spear for our country, and the forces of civilization, it should not be the first tool to be used. Bloodshed should only be considered as a last resort and definitely never used as the first option. As the leader of the free world, we should stand our ground but be prepared to seek peace through restraint. This is not the time to exercise false pride!
Unfortunately the Trump administration informed four top State Department management officials that their services were no longer needed as part of an effort to "clean house." Patrick Kennedy, served for nine years as the “Undersecretary for Management,” “Assistant Secretaries for Administration and Consular Affairs” Joyce Anne Barr and Michele Bond, as well as “Ambassador” Gentry Smith, director of the Office for Foreign Missions. Most of the United States Ambassadors to foreign countries have also been dismissed, including the ones to South Korea and Japan. This leaves the United States without the means of exercising diplomacy rapidly, when needed. These positions are political appointments, and require the President’s nomination and the Senate’s confirmation. This has not happened! Moreover, diplomatically our country is severely handicapped at a time when tensions are as hot as any time since the Cold War.
Without following expert advice or consent and the necessary input from the Unites States Congress, the decisions are all being made by a man who claims to know more than the generals do, yet he has only the military experience of a cadet at “New York Military Academy.” A private school he attended as a high school student, from 1959 to 1964. At that time, he received educational and medical deferments from the Vietnam War draft. Trump said that the school provided him with “more training than a lot of the guys that go into the military.” His counterpart the unhinged Kim Jong-un has played with what he considers his country’s military toys, since April 11th of 2012. To think that these are the two world leaders, protecting the planet from a nuclear holocaust….
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Hank Bracker
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Quando isso aconteceu, Orlando deu um suspiro de alívio, acendeu um cigarro e soprou em silêncio um ou dois minutos. Depois, chamou hesitante, como se a pessoa que procurasse pudesse não estar ali: “Orlando?” Pois se há (por acaso) 76 tempos diferentes, todos pulsando simultaneamente na cabeça, quantas pessoas diferentes não haverá – valha-nos o céu -, todas morando, num tempo ou noutro, no espírito humano? Alguns dizem que 2052. De modo que é a coisa mais natural do mundo uma pessoa chamar, logo que fique sozinha, “Orlando?” (se esse é o seu nome), querendo com isso dizer “Vem, vem! Estou mortalmente cansada deste eu. Preciso de outro”. Daí as mudanças assombrosas que vemos em nossos amigos. Mas isso também não é muito fácil, pois, embora se possa dizer, como Orlando disse (achando-se no campo, e necessitando talvez de outro eu), “Orlando?”, o Orlando de que ela necessita pode não vir; esses eus de que somos constituídos, sobrepostos uns aos outros como pratos empilhados na mão do copeiro, têm suas predileções, simpatias, pequenos códigos e direitos próprios, chamem-se como quiserem (e muitas dessas coisas não têm nome), de modo que um só virá se estiver chovendo, outro, se for num quarto com cortinas verdes, outro, se a sra. Jones não estiver lá, outro, se lhe pudermos prometer um copo de vinho – e assim por diante; pois cada pessoa pode multiplicar com a sua própria existência as diferentes condições que impõe os seus diferentes eus – e algumas, de tão ridículas, nem podem ser impressas em letra de fôrma.
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Virginia Woolf (Orlando)
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It is very important to note, however, that the only segment of the population from whom changing our social and economic conditions in the ways that prevent violence would exact a higher cost would be the extremely wealthy upper, or ruling, class — the wealthiest one per cent of the population (which in the United States today controls some 39 per cent of the total wealth of the nation, and 48 per cent of the financial wealth, as shown by Wolff in Top Heavy (1996). The other 99 per cent of the population — namely, the middle class and the lower class — would benefit, not only form decreased rates of violence (which primarily victimize the very poor), but also from a more equitable distribution of the collective wealth and income of our unprecedentedly wealthy societies.
Even on a worldwide scale, it would require a remarkably small sacrifice from the wealthiest individuals and nations to raise everyone on earth, including the populations of the poorest nations, above the subsistence level, as the United Nations Human Development Report 1998, has shown. I emphasize the wealthiest individuals as well as nations because, as the U.N. report documents, a tiny number of the wealthiest individuals actually possess wealth on a scale that is larger than the annual income of most of the nations of the earth.
For example, the three richest individuals on earth have assets that exceed the combined Gross Domestic Product of the fortyeight poorest countries! The assets of the 84 richest individuals exceed the Gross Domestic Product of the most populous nation on earth, China, with 1.2 billion inhabitants. The 225 richest individuals have a combined wealth of over $1 trillion, which is equal to the annual income of the poorest 47 per cent of the world's population, or 2.5 billion people.
By comparison, it is estimated that the additional cost of achieving and maintaining universal access to basic education for all, basic health care for all, reproductive health care for all women, adequate food for all and safe water and sanitation for all is roughly $40 billion a year. This is less than 4 per cent of the combined wealth of the 225 richest people in the world.
It has been shown throughout the world, both internationally and intranationally, that reducing economic inequities not only improves physical health and reduces the rate of death from natural causes far more effectively than doctors, medicines, and hospitals; it also decreases the rate of death from both criminal and political violence far more effectively than any system of police forces, prisons, or military interventions ever invented.
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James Gilligan (Preventing Violence (Prospects for Tomorrow))