“Fashionable women regard themselves, and are regarded by men, as pretty toys or as mere instruments of pleasure; and the vacuity of mind, the heartlessness, the frivolity which is the necessary result of this false and debasing estimate of women, can only be fully understood by those who have mingled in the folly and wickedness of fashionable life.”

— Sarah Grimké

Letter 8 (1837).
Letters on the Equality of the Sexes and the Condition of Woman (1837)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Fashionable women regard themselves, and are regarded by men, as pretty toys or as mere instruments of pleasure; and th…" by Sarah Grimké?

Sarah Grimké 22

American abolitionist 1792–1873

Related quotes

“Women executives have a different sensitivity. Male executives only understood makeup or fashion as an instrument of seduction, because that was addressed to them. They didn’t understand that we like to put on makeup or dress up just because it’s a game; it’s pleasurable.”

Isabella Rossellini (1952) Italian actress and filmmaker

On being asked to be the face of Lancôme after being fired by a male executive decades earlier in “Isabella Rossellini: ‘Ageing brings a lot of happiness. You get fatter – but there is freedom’” https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/oct/13/isabella-rossellini-ageing-brings-a-lot-of-happiness-you-get-fatter-but-there-is-freedom in The Guardian (2020 Oct 13)

“The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women's fashion.”

Larry Ellison (1944) American internet entrepreneur, businessman and philanthropist

Referring to the term "cloud computing" in his Oracle OpenWorld 2008 speech, as quoted in "Oracle's Ellison nails cloud computing" at cnet (26 September 2008) http://news.cnet.com/8301-13953_3-10052188-80.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5.
Context: The computer industry is the only industry that is more fashion-driven than women's fashion. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I have no idea what anyone is talking about. What is it? It's complete gibberish. It's insane. When is this idiocy going to stop?

“I know very well the women. The short skirt was never a good fashion — very vulgar. The American women will accept the new fashions. You can never stop the fashions.”

Christian Dior (1905–1957) French fashion designer

Source: Malcolm Perrine McNair, ‎Harry L. Hansen (1949) Problems in Marketing. p. 165

“many women, especially as a result of social and cultural conditioning, do not become fully aware of their dignity. Others are victims of a materialistic and hedonistic outlook which views them as mere objects of pleasure, and does not hesitate to organize the exploitation of women, even of young girls, into a despicable trade. Special concern needs to be shown for these women, particularly by other women who, thanks to their own upbringing and sensitivity, are able to help them discover their own inner worth and resources. Women need to help women, and to find support in the valuable and effective contributions which associations, movements and groups, many of them of a religious character, have proved capable of making in this regard.”

Pope John Paul II (1920–2005) 264th Pope of the Catholic Church, saint

Message for the XXVIII World Day of Peace, 8 December 1994
Source: www.vatican.va http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/messages/peace/documents/hf_jp-ii_mes_08121994_xxviii-world-day-for-peace_en.html