When I meet a woman who attracts me, I prefer women,' she said. 'And when I meet a man who attracts me, I prefer men.' 'You mean you haven't made up your mind yet.' 'I mean exactly what I said. I told you you wouldn't like it. Most people who ask want me definitely on one side or the other.
Interpretation
The quote expresses a fluid perspective on attraction, rejecting binary classifications of sexuality.
In this quote, Octavia Butler shares her character's viewpoint on attraction, emphasizing a nuanced understanding of sexuality. The character's reluctance to conform to societal expectations reflects the complexities inherent in human relationships and identities, challenging the rigid binaries that define sexual orientation. This perspective encourages openness and authenticity, suggesting that attraction isn't always as defined as people might expect.
In practice
This quote can be shared in a discussion about the complexity of sexual orientation at a pride event.
What I'm working on now - I'm back to fantasy, although considering that it's me, I'm turning it into a kind of science fantasy. It's a vampire story - but my vampires are biological vampires. They didn't become vampires because someone bit them; they were born that way.
Slavery was a long slow process of dulling.
Here I was into astronomy, and here into anthropology, and there I go into geology. It was much more fun to be able to research and write about whatever I wanted to.
There is no end To what a living world Will demand of you.
You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.
Better to stay alive," I said. "At least while there's a chance to get free." I thought of the sleeping pills in my bag and wondered just how great a hypocrite I was. It was so easy to advise other people to live with their pain.
We are not the same persons this year as last; nor are those we love. It is a happy chance if we, changing, continue to love a changed person.
Bad writing is like a bad relationship. Don't be addicted to it just because you are familiar with its ways. Let go.
From the moment of birth, when the Stone-Age baby confronts the twentieth-century mother, the baby is subjected to these forces of violence called love, as its father and mother and their parents and their parents before them, have been. These forces are mainly concerned with destroying most of its potential.
...but before I can live with other folks I've got to live with myself.
If you have a sister and she dies, do you stop saying you have one? Or are you always a sister, even when the other half of the equation is gone?
I have seen many die, surrounded by loved ones, and their last words were βI love you.β There were some who could no longer speak yet with their eyes and soft smile left behind that same healing message. I have been in rooms where those who were dying made it feel like sacred ground. (26)
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