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We're comfortable with women in certain roles but not comfortable with women expressing anger or fully accepting their power. The most daring question a woman can ask is, 'What do I want?'
Libba Bray
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The quote emphasizes the societal discomfort with women asserting their power and desires.

Libba Bray's quote highlights the challenges women face in society regarding the acceptance of their emotions, especially anger, and the assertion of their desires. It suggests that while there is a level of comfort with women in traditional roles, there remains a significant discomfort when women fully express their power and agency. The daring question 'What do I want?' signifies a transformative self-awareness and a challenge to societal norms, encouraging women to explore and articulate their true desires and ambitions without fear of judgment.

Themes

WomenPowerAngerDesireCourageSociety

In practice

Example use cases

A motivational speech about women's empowerment can include this quote to inspire self-reflection.

More from Libba Bray

May I suggest that you all read? And often. Believe me, it's nice to have something to talk about other than the weather and the Queen's health. Your mind is not a cage. It's a garden. And it requires cultivating.
Libba BrayRead
In school, they would tell you that life wouldn’t come to you; you had to go out and make it your own. But when it came to love, the message for girls seemed to be this: Don’t. Don’t go after what you want. Wait. Wait to be chosen, as if only in the eye of another could one truly find value. The message was confusing and infuriating. It was a shell game with no actual pea under the rapidly moving cups.
Libba BrayRead
I am no longer content to be the scared, obedient schoolgirl. Who are you, a stranger, to tell me what I can and cannot do?
Libba BrayRead
We all walk in a land of dreams. For what are we but atoms and hope, a handful of stardust and sinew? We are weary travelers trying to find our way home on a road that never ends. Am I a part of your dream? or are you but a part of mine?
Libba BrayRead
In a world beyond this one, that river goes on singing sweetly, enchanting us with what we want to hear, shaping what we need to see in order to keep going. In those waters, all disappointments are forgotten, our mistakes forgiven. Gazing into them, we see a strong father. A loving mother. Warm rooms where we are sheltered, adored, wanted. And the uncertainty of our futures is nothing more than the fog of breath on a windowpane.
Libba BrayRead
We're all strangers connected by what we reveal, what we share, what we take away--our stories. I guess that's what I love about books--they are thin strands of humanity that tether us to one another for a small bit of time, that make us feel less alone or even more comfortable with our aloneness, if need be.
Libba BrayRead

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