“A man's jealousy is a social institution, a woman's prostitution an instinct.”

—  Karl Kraus

Half-Truths and One-And-A-Half Truths (1976)

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 "A man's jealousy is a social institution, a woman's prostitution an instinct." by Karl Kraus?
Karl Kraus photo
Karl Kraus 94
Czech playwright and publicist 1874–1936

Related quotes

Habib Bourguiba photo

“Prostitution myths justify the existence of prostitution, promote misinformation about prostitution, and contribute to a social climate that exploits and harms not only prostituted women but all women.”

Melissa Farley (1942) American psychologist

"Attitudes toward Prostitution and Acceptance of Rape Myths" in Journal of Applied Social Psychology Vol. 32, issue 9 (2002), p. 1790 - 1796; co-written with A. Cotton, and R. Baron

C.G. Jung photo
Paulo Coelho photo

“Within the gendered institution of prostitution, race and class create a hierarchy with indigenous women at its lowest point.”

Melissa Farley (1942) American psychologist

"Prostitution in Vancouver: Violence and the Colonization of First Nations Women" in Transcultural Psychiatry 42 (2005), p. 242 - 271; co-written with J Lynne and A Cotton

Anaïs Nin photo

“I will always be the virgin-prostitute, the perverse angel, the two-faced sinister and saintly woman.”

Anaïs Nin (1903–1977) writer of novels, short stories, and erotica

Source: Henry & June

Northrop Frye photo

“Man is constantly building anxiety-structures, like geodesic domes, around his social and religious institutions.”

Northrop Frye (1912–1991) Canadian literary critic and literary theorist

Source: "Quotes", The Great Code: The Bible and Literature (1982), Chapter 8, p. 232

Gloria Steinem photo

“I’ve only ever met one woman who actually was a prostitute of her own free will.”

Gloria Steinem (1934) American feminist and journalist

The Humanist interview (2012)
Context: If someone wants to be called a sex worker, I call them a sex worker. But there is a problem with that term, because while it was adopted in goodwill, traffickers have taken it and essentially said, “Okay, if it’s work like any other, somebody has to do it.” In Nevada, there was a time when you couldn’t get unemployment unless you tried sex work first. The same was true in Germany. So the state became a procurer because of the argument that sex is work like any other. This is not a good thing.
I also do not feel proud when I stand in the Sonagachi, the biggest brothel area in all of South Asia. It’s in Kolkata, and everything is written in Bengali except “SEX WORK.” And the term is used in various sinister ways by sex traffickers, who even describe what they do — which is to kidnap or buy people out of villages — as “facilitated migration.”
I’ve only ever met one woman who actually was a prostitute of her own free will. She didn’t have a pimp. She could pick and choose her customers. That’s so rare. So we have to look at the reality and not romanticize it. We have to be clear that you have the right to sell your own body but nobody has the right to sell anybody else’s body. No one has that right.

Andrea Dworkin photo
Yukio Mishima photo

“Mine was the unbearable jealousy a cultured pearl must feel toward a genuine one. Or can there be such a thing in this world as a man who is jealous of the woman who loves him, precisely because of her love?”

Source: Confessions of a Mask (1949), p. 208.
Context: I received an impassioned letter from Sonoko. There was no doubt that she was truly in love. I felt jealous. Mine was the unbearable jealousy a cultured pearl must feel toward a genuine one. Or can there be such a thing in this world as a man who is jealous of the woman who loves him, precisely because of her love?

Related topics