Male dominance in society always means that out of public sight, in the private, ahistorical world of men with women, men are sexually dominating women.
Andrea DworkinRead
I have been asked, politely and not so politely, why I am myself. This is an accounting any woman will be called on to give if she asserts her will.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Asserting one's identity and will can provoke questioning and challenge, especially for women.
This quote by Andrea Dworkin reflects on the societal pressures and inquiries that individuals, particularly women, face when they assert their identity and personal will. It emphasizes the importance of self-assertion despite the potential for scrutiny or criticism, highlighting the strength required to be true to oneself in the face of external expectations and judgments.
Themes
IdentityAssertionSelfWomanWillSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about personal empowerment, this quote can inspire women to embrace their individuality.
More from Andrea Dworkin
All quotes βRomantic love, in pornography as in life, is the mythic celebration of female negation. For a woman, love is defined as her willingness to submit to her own annihilation.... The proof of love is that she is willing to be destroyed by the one whom she loves, for his sake. For the woman, love is always self-sacrifice, the sacrifice of identity, will, and bodily integrity, in order to fulfill and redeem the masculinity of her lover.
Andrea DworkinRead
We are born into a world in which sexual possibilities are narrowly circumscribed. . . . We are programmed by the culture as surely as rats are programmed to make the arduous way through the scientist's maze, and that programming operates on every level of choice and action.
Andrea DworkinRead
Institutionalised in sports, the military, acculturated sexuality, the history and mythology of heroism, violence is taught to boys until they becomes its advocates.
Andrea DworkinRead
In her heart she is a mourner for those who have not survived. In her soul she is a warrior for those who are now as she was then. In her life she is both celebrant and proof of women's capacity and will to survive, to become, to act, to change self and society. And each year she is stronger and there are more of her.
Andrea DworkinRead
Being stigmatied by sex is being marked by its meaning in a human life of loneliness and imperfection, where some pain is indelible.
Andrea DworkinRead
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