History is how we have learnt to think about ourselves. It's not as though the Greeks and Romans are static entities out there to be discovered and translated. We make them speak, we talk to them, and they inform what we say.
Mary BeardRead
I do not think that the lives of women of my generation, as a class, were blighted by the way the power differentials between men and women operated. We wanted to change those power differentials; we also had a good time.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the experiences of women, acknowledging the challenges posed by gender power imbalances while also highlighting their resilience and enjoyment of life.
Mary Beard's quote speaks to the experiences of women in her generation, suggesting that, despite the existing power imbalances between men and women, they were not solely defined by these challenges. Instead, she emphasizes that women sought to change these disparities while still leading fulfilling and enjoyable lives, showcasing their strength and determination in the face of societal norms.
Themes
GenderEqualityWomenPowerResilience
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about women's rights, one could use this quote to emphasize the progress made despite ongoing challenges.
More from Mary Beard
All quotes →I don't think that we are completely dominated by what we have inherited from the past, but it is the case that as far back as you can go - just to Homer, but also to the literature of Rome, the literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance - what you will find is that women's voices are not taken seriously.
Mary BeardRead
What politicians do is they never get the rhetoric wrong, and the price they pay is they don't speak the truth as they see it. Now, I will speak truth as I see it, and sometimes I don't get the rhetoric right. I think that's a fair trade-off.
Mary BeardRead
I'd quite like to be in Caligula's court - living in the back room somewhere and just being able to observe.
Mary BeardRead
Whatever you say about popular culture, people like people who know things, who are experts, and it doesn't particularly matter what they look like.
Mary BeardRead
There is no way, absolutely no way, that I would want people to stop reading the 'Odyssey.' But I want them to read it with their eyes open. To notice it and then to think what it says about us.
Mary BeardRead
Similar quotes
Gold and precious gems are, in many places, the one form of wealth a woman can use to protect and enhance herself within the elaborate structure of patriarchy.
Wangechi MutuRead
In the '50s, too many women, even though they were very smart, they tried to make the man feel that he was brainier. It was a sad thing.
Ruth Bader GinsburgRead
I want a future where women and girls get to be the subject of their own sexuality, not the object of somebody else’s. That we are the main characters in our own play, not props in somebody else’s—which is how women’s sexuality is treated now. Whatever the outside attitudes about sexuality it’s always about somebody’s agenda for us, and I want a world where we can have our own.
Jaclyn FriedmanRead
When a woman is exhorted to be compliant, cooperative, and quiet, to not make upset or go against the old guard, she is pressed into living a most unnatural life- a life that is self-blinding.. . without innovation. The world-wide issue for women is that under such conditions they are not only silenced, they are put to sleep. Their concerns, their viewpoints, their own truths are vaporized.
Clarissa Pinkola EstesRead
Today, despite all of the gains we have made, neither men nor women have real choice. Until women have supportive employers and colleagues as well as partners who share family responsibilities, they don't have real choice. And until men are fully respected for contributing inside the home, they don't have real choice either.
Sheryl SandbergRead
Whether women are better than men I cannot say - but I can say they are certainly no worse.
Golda MeirRead