If you're a girl and you don't fit the very specific vision of what a girl should be, which is always from a man's perspective, then you're a little bit at a loss.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the pressure girls face to conform to male-defined standards of femininity.
Ellen Page highlights the struggle that girls encounter when they do not fit into the narrow and often unrealistic expectations set by society, particularly those shaped by male perspectives. This results in a sense of confusion or loss, as these imposed ideals can overshadow individual identities and self-worth.
In practice
This quote can be used in discussions about women's rights and the importance of self-identity in feminist movements.
This world would be a whole lot better if we just made an effort to be less horrible to one another. If we took just five minutes to recognize each other's beauty instead of attacking each other for our differences - that's not hard - it's really an easier and better way to live.
I don't know why people are so reluctant to say they're feminists. Could it be any more obvious that we still live in a patriarchal world when feminism is a bad word?
I think a lot of the time in films, men get roles where they create their own destiny and women are just tools, supporters for that.
The more time went by, the more something just happened, an Oh my god - I want to love someone freely and walk down the street and hold my girlfriend's hand.
You think you're in a place where you're all 'I'm thrilled to be gay, I have no issues about being gay anymore, I don't feel shame about being gay,' but you actually do. You're just not fully aware of it. I think I still felt scared about people knowing. I felt awkward around gay people; I felt guilty for not being myself.
There's an unconscious bias in our society: girls are wonderful; boys are terrible. And to be a boy, or young man, growing up, having to listen to all this, it must be painful.
Rich cultures, patriarchal cultures, value thin women, like ours; poor ones value fat women. But all patriarchal cultures value weak women. So for women to become physically strong is very profound.
Women must tell men always that they are the strong ones. They are the big, the strong, the wonderful. In truth, women are the strong ones. It is just my opinion, I am not a professor.
All too often, girls are ignored because their challenges aren't thought to be as serious as those faced by boys.
Growing up female in America. What a liability! You grew up with your ears full of cosmetic ads, love songs, advice columns, whoreoscopes, Hollywood gossip, and moral dilemmas on the level of TV soap operas. What litanies the advertisers of the good life chanted at you! What curious catechisms!
Women want mediocre men, and men are working to be as mediocre as possible.
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