We need a kind of feminism that aims not just to assimilate into the institutions that men have created over the centuries, but to infiltrate and subvert them. Barbara Ehrenreich More Quotes by Barbara Ehrenreich More Quotes From Barbara Ehrenreich What we need is a tough new kind of feminism with no illusions. Women do not change institutions simply by assimilating into them. We need a feminism that teaches a woman to say no - not just to the date rapist or overly insistent boyfriend but, when necessary, to the military or corporate hierarchy within which she finds herself. We need a kind of feminism that aims not just to assimilate into the institutions that men have created over the centuries, but to infiltrate and subvert them. Barbara Ehrenreich feminism women military We need to brace ourselves for a struggle against terrifying obstacles...bot h of our own making and imposed by the natural world. And the first step is to recover from the mass delusion that is positive thinking. Barbara Ehrenreich positive-thinking struggle firsts no job, no matter how lowly, is truly 'unskilled. Barbara Ehrenreich matter work jobs There is the fear, common to all English-only speakers, that the chief purpose of foreign languages is to make fun of us. Otherwise, you know, why not just come out and say it? Barbara Ehrenreich why-not purpose fun Roman Catholicism: a hundred million people bowing down before a flesh-hating, elderly celibate. Barbara Ehrenreich elderly hate people The failure to think positively can weigh on a cancer patient like a second disease. Barbara Ehrenreich cancer disease thinking No culture on earth outside of mid-century suburban America has ever deployed one woman per child without simultaneously assigning her such major productive activities as weaving, farming, gathering, temple maintenance, and tent-building. The reason is that full-time, one-on-one child-raising is not good for women or children. Barbara Ehrenreich mother children america Personally, I can't see why it would be any less romantic to find a husband in a nice four-color catalogue than in the average downtown bar at happy hour. Barbara Ehrenreich nice husband romantic What you don't necessarily realize when you start selling your time by the hour is that what you're really selling is your life. Barbara Ehrenreich selling hours realizing war has dug itself into economic systems, where it offers a livelihood to millions ... It has lodged in our souls as a kind of religion, a quick tonic for political malaise and a bracing antidote to the moral torpor of consumerist, market-driven cultures. Barbara Ehrenreich political soul war An asteroid could hit us at any moment. This is not - and also, the most successful kind of life on this planet is not us, it's microbes. They're the ones who greatly outnumber us, and may eventually destroy us. Barbara Ehrenreich asteroids successful may Personally, I have nothing against work, particularly when performed, quietly and unobtrusively, by someone else. I just don't happen to think it's an appropriate subject for an 'ethic.' Barbara Ehrenreich ethics work thinking Americans love marriage too much. We rush into mariage with abandon, expecting a micro-Utopia on earth. We pile all our needs onto it, our expectations, neuroses, and hopes. In fact, we've made marriage into the panda bear of human social institutions: we've loved it to death. Barbara Ehrenreich pandas expectations needs Labor is like motherhood to most of our political leaders: a calling so fine and noble that it would be sullied by talk of vulgar, mundane things like pay. Barbara Ehrenreich motherhood leader work The secret of the truly successful ... is that they learned early in life how not to be busy. Barbara Ehrenreich successful secret busy By the Reagan era, the 'culture of poverty' had become a cornerstone of conservative ideology: poverty was caused not by low wages or a lack of jobs but by bad attitudes and faulty lifestyles. The poor were dissolute, promiscuous, prone to addiction and crime, unable to 'defer gratification' or possibly even set an alarm clock. The last thing they could be trusted with was money. Barbara Ehrenreich addiction attitude jobs If there is no God or no evidence of God and certainly no evidence of a very morally engaged god, then whatever has to be done has to be done by us. Barbara Ehrenreich evidence-of-god atheism done Natural selection, as it has operated in human history, favors not only the clever but the murderous. Barbara Ehrenreich favors evolution clever The only truly new ideas [the right] has come up with in the last twenty years are (1) supply side economics, which is a way of redistributing the wealth upward toward those who already have more than they know what to do with, and (2) creationism, which is a parallel idea for redistributing ignorance out from its fundamentalist strongholds to those who know more than they need to. Barbara Ehrenreich ignorance years ideas the fastest-growing brand of religion is of the magical 'name it and claim it' variety, in which the deity exists only to meet one's immediate, self-identified needs. Barbara Ehrenreich self names needs
