3 Feminist Quotes that Everyone Should Hear At Least Once

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 3 Feminist Quotes that Everyone Should Hear At Least Once



 

            Across time, there have been many, many words iterated from civil advocates, activists, feminists, womanists, and many more. These sentences and phrases hold immense power over the feminist movement and it’s developing objectives. We’re going to highlight a couple of quotes from authors, activists, and anyone else who has spoken powerful words onto the feminist movement and potentially even shifted the movement for the better.

 

1.     “I raise up my voice—not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard. … We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back” – Malala Yousafzai

 

This quote from the well-known activist for women’s rights and education, Malala Yousufzai, holds immense power and can be interpreted in many different lights. For instance, this quote highlights the way in which feminism is about more than one’s personal experiences with oppression but instead a collective, transformative movement to change perspectives on a grander scale than outweighs one’s individual experiences and values the collective woman’s experiences. Additionally, the final words are some of the most powerful, “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back” which can be applied to intersectional feminism as well. That statement can be interpreted in the sense that if there are still some women being held back due to outlying oppressions they are still to be recognized, heard, and stood by.

 

2.     “Solidarity is not the same as support. To experience solidarity, we must have a community of interests, shared beliefs and goals around which to unite, to build Sisterhood. Support can be occasional. It can be given and just as easily withdrawn. Solidarity requires sustained, ongoing commitment.” – bell hooks

 

This author, bell hooks, is known for writing various books on the intersectional perspective of feminism and she delves into many different topics of life and how feminism impacts and be impacted due to these subjects. This quote represents the idea that feminism is a sisterhood; sisters often fight and disagree but at the end of the day they stand by each other no matter what, that’s sisterhood and what feminism should represent. Hooks emphasizes that support is something that comes and goes, easily selective but solidarity is commitment despite not agreeing with every single person. This is an extremely powerful way to perceive feminism, it brings a new perspective to the ways that women should address one another and potentially changes the way people see one another.

 

3.     “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” – Audre Lorde

 

This quote is straight to the point as to how feminism should reflect onto one’s own life. As Audre Lorde states, when one woman is unfree in the shackles of her oppression it impacts all women and will continue to impact women until there is a collective change. This reflects intersectionality and matches well with bell hooks quote due to the fact that they tie into the idea of solidarity. Feminism is not for one’s personal benefit but instead for the collective shift of perspective regarding women related issues and the intersections that it might have with race, class, sexuality, physical and mental ability, etc. When women stand in solidarity, we stand with all the oppressions that women face as a collective, even if it does not impact our lives directly.



References:

https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/features/a4056/empowering-female-quotes/

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9048165-solidarity-is-not-the-same-as-support-to-experience-solidarity

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