Jessica Valenti Quotes - Page 5

Quotes about:

• One of the things I really like about doing work online, and the thing I like about the work I'm doing now, is that I get to meet feminists all the time and I get to read new feminists every day on the blogosphere.

  Jessica Valenti

  Feminist, Online

  Source: bigthink.com

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• I'm glad that we have a history at all and that we can talk about feminist history. But I do think that it doesn't really pay attention to the complexity and the nuance that is feminist thought.

  Jessica Valenti

  Thinking, Feminist, Attention

  Source: bigthink.com

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• I think that blogging and the Internet has completely changed feminism for ever, I think.

  Jessica Valenti

  Thinking, Feminism, Blogging

  Source: bigthink.com

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• I don't find the wave model very productive, because I think it kind of serves to fan the flames of generational tension, or make it seem like there's more generational tension than there actually is.

  Jessica Valenti

  Thinking, Flames, Fans

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• It used to be, if you wanted to have a strong, influential voice in the feminist movement, you really needed to be part of this New York/D.C. elite group of feminists, or part of a mainstream feminist organization. And now it's kind of an amazing thing that you can just start a blog and put your voice out there and build your readership.

  Jessica Valenti

  Strong, New York, Organization

  Source: bigthink.com

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• I certainly wouldn't be writing books if it hadn't been for the feminist blogosphere, and I think that's a really amazing thing.

  Jessica Valenti

  Book, Writing, Thinking

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• Something I say a lot when it comes to anti-feminist stereotypes is that they exist for a reason. The stereotypes of feminists as ugly, or man-haters, or hairy, or whatever it is - that's really strategic. That's a really smart way to keep young women away from feminism, is to kind of put out this idea that all feminists hate men, or all feminists are ugly; and that they really come from a place of fear. If feminism wasn't powerful, if feminism wasn't influential, people wouldn't spend so much time putting it down.

  Jessica Valenti

  Powerful, Hate, Smart

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• Something you hear a lot is that feminism dead. But if feminism is dead, why do people try so hard to kill it? Something just isn't making sense there. So I think when young women hear like, hey, someone's trying to get something over on me, you know, someone's trying to deliberately keep me away from a movement that could make my life better, I think that really resonates with them.

  Jessica Valenti

  Thinking, People, Feminism

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• You know, people ask me a lot, well, can you be pro-life and be feminist? Can you be conservative and be feminist? And I think that yeah, maybe personally you can be those things. But I think if you're advocating for legislation, or if you're fighting to limit other women's rights, then you can't really call yourself a feminist.

  Jessica Valenti

  Fighting, Thinking, People

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I always go with the dictionary definition of feminism, which is just social, political and economic equality for women. And that's kind of a strategic thing on my part, because I think that it's the hardest definition to argue with. You know, who doesn't want that? Everyone wants equality for women.

  Jessica Valenti

  Thinking, Political, Feminism

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• Young women know that something is off; they know that the world is a messed-up place. They know that the world is a sexist place because they've had experiences in their own life; they see things happening to their friends, to their parents. But because feminism isn't widely accepted, because they don't necessarily have access to feminist thought or to feminist groups, they don't necessarily have a language to put behind the feelings and the thoughts that they're having. And they certainly don't have a support system to let them know like, hey, that's okay; you're right, that is screwed up.

  Jessica Valenti

  Support, Feminist, Parent

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I think people resist feminism because they're scared. I think for women, they're scared of being picked on or of being called out. I hear from a lot of young women, you know, I don't want to call myself a feminist because I don't want to get in an argument with someone. And it's just not cool; like it's not a cool thing to be associated with. There's no benefit to saying that you're a feminist.

  Jessica Valenti

  Thinking, People, Feminist

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• We've been growing our readership every month, and we're kind of like, where are they all coming from? This is wonderful! And I think one of the best surprises was that you hear so often that young women don't care about feminism, that young women don't identify as feminists. But really, the majority of our readers are young women. So to see so many young people kind of get involved and really take to Feministing.com was a really exciting thing.

  Jessica Valenti

  Thinking, People, Feminist

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• There's going to be biological differences between the genders. There's going to be biological differences between two women or two men. There's biological differences between all of us. My concern is, why are we so concerned about it? Why are we so worried about it? Why, whenever a study comes out about men do this one way and women do this one way, or men's brains and women's brains - why are we so interested in that? You know, what makes us so fascinated by differences between the sexes? And I think more often than not that interest is deeply embedded in sexism.

  Jessica Valenti

  Men, Thinking, Brain

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I think feminism has always been global. I think there's feminism everywhere throughout the world. I think, though, for Western feminism and for American feminism, it not so surprisingly continues to center Western feminism and American feminism. And I think the biggest hurdle American feminists have in terms of taking a more global approach is that too often when you hear American feminists talk about international feminism or women in other countries, it kind of goes along with this condescending point of view like we have to save the women of such-and-such country; we have to help them.

  Jessica Valenti

  Country, Thinking, Feminist

  Source: bigthink.com

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• I remember at the time - right before we started Feministing.com - doing a Google search for the term "young feminism" and the term "young feminist," and the first thing that came up was a page from the National Organization for Women that was about 10 or 15 years old. And it just struck me as so odd that there was all of this young feminist activism going on, but that it wasn't necessarily being represented online, that the first things in a Google search to come up were really, really old. I think to a certain degree we really filled a gap, and that's why we got such a large readership.

  Jessica Valenti

  Thinking, Feminist, Google

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• There was no real strategic decision about editorial tone. It was kind of a write whatever you want to write, and we'll see how it goes. I think that we lucked out in that all of the women who started writing at Feministing.com were really funny, and I don't think that's something people are used to seeing or hearing when they read feminism. You know, you think feminism and you kind of think academic, women's studies, dry, humorless; there are all of these stereotypes that go along with what feminist thought is and what feminist writing is.

  Jessica Valenti

  Real, Writing, Thinking

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• Whether people identify as feminists or not, if they're doing work that furthers a feminist cause, I think that's wonderful, like if it works for me, right, it works for the movement. But I do think that personally they're missing out. If you don't identify as a feminist, you're missing out on this whole community that's out there that could really help you with your work, help you with your personal life, and just give you support.

  Jessica Valenti

  Thinking, People, Giving

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I ask myself a lot how other women can be against the ideology that has to do with women empowering other women. Going along with the access of power and the status quo and forging a special position and the thought process that goes: I am not like those women. When it comes to things like assault, for example, perhaps it makes them feel safer. It's the denial: I'm okay. This won't happen to me. Acknowledging that the world is a profoundly unsafe for women is a scary thought.

  Jessica Valenti

  Empowering, Scary, Special

  Source: therumpus.net

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• I think it's important to let kids be kids and be cautious about accelerated sexuality as pressure to mature too quickly. My hackles go up when I see a teacher making kids feel like they are older, special, mature. Let kids be kids.

  Jessica Valenti

  Teacher, Kids, Thinking

  Source: therumpus.net

  4 Copy quote

• I think my biggest career mistake has been taking on too much. And I think this is kind of - I think it's related to the Internet world, where you're always multitasking and you have a million windows open and you feel like you can do a lot at the same time.

  Jessica Valenti

  Mistake, Thinking, Careers

  Source: bigthink.com

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• I think that we're our own worst enemies in a lot of ways, especially when it comes to doing work where you're criticized a lot or doing work where there's a lot of hater directed at you; and to not constantly second-guess yourself.

  Jessica Valenti

  Thinking, Worst Enemy, Way

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

• I think I was in high school, actually, and it was a guidance counselor or someone said, you know, you're just too loud; like you need to just stop talking so much and stop being so opinionated; like no one wants to listen to you because you're really annoying. And I'm glad that I didn't shut up, because it seems like people are listening.

  Jessica Valenti

  School, Thinking, Talking

  Source: bigthink.com

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• I don't get much career advice at all, and I would like some.

  Jessica Valenti

  Careers, Advice, Career Advice

  Source: bigthink.com

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• Stress from blogging keeps me up at night.

  Jessica Valenti

  Stress, Night, Blogging

  Source: bigthink.com

  4 Copy quote

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