“I'm a female. Why would I give all the best ideas to a male?”
Acceptance Speech for the Margaret Edwards Award (1998)
Context: Wrinkle, when it was finally published in 1962, after two years of rejections, broke several current taboos. The protagonist was female, and one of the unwritten rules of science fiction was that the protagonist should be male. I'm a female. Why would I give all the best ideas to a male?
Another assumption was that science and fantasy don't mix. Why not? We live in a fantastic universe, and subatomic particles and quantum mechanics are even more fantastic than the macrocosm. Often the only way to look clearly at this extraordinary universe is through fantasy, fairy tale, myth. During the fifties Erich Fromm published a book called The Forgotten Language, in which he said that the only universal language which breaks across barriers of race, culture, time, is the language of fairy tale, fantasy, myth, parable, and that is why the same stories have been around in one form or another for hundreds of years.
Someone said, "It's all been done before."
Yes, I agreed, but we all have to say it in our own voice.
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Madeleine L'Engle 223
American writer 1918–2007Related quotes
Source: Kate Nash calls out 'sexist' record shop for 'females of all description' category, 1 September 2016, The Independent, Jess, Denham https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/kate-nash-calls-out-record-shop-for-sexist-labelling-after-spotting-females-of-all-description-a7219586.html,
“In all things, there is neither male nor female.”
Vimalakriti Sutra, as quoted by Dr Bettany Hughes Telegraph http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/womens-life/11785181/Feminism-started-with-the-Buddha-and-Confucius-25-centuries-ago.html
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Source: Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (1871), Ch. I : Apprentice, The Twelve-Inch Rule and Common Gavel, p. 1
Context: The Sun is the ancient symbol of the life-giving and generative power of the Deity. To the ancients, light was the cause of life; and God was the source from which all light flowed; the essence of Light, the Invisible Fire, developed as Flame manifested as light and splendor. The Sun was his manifestation and visible image; and the Sabæans worshipping the Light — God, seemed to worship the Sun, in whom they saw the manifestation of the Deity.
The Moon was the symbol of the passive capacity of nature to produce, the female, of which the life-giving power and energy was the male. It was the symbol of Isis, Astarte, and Artemis, or Diana. The "Master of Life" was the Supreme Deity, above both, and manifested through both; Zeus, the Son of Saturn, become King of the Gods; Horus, son of Osiris and Isis, become the Master of Life; Dionusos or Bacchus, like Mithras, become the author of Light and Life and Truth.
Source: SCUM MANIFESTO (1967), p. [1] ("y(male)" & "x(female)" spaceless in original).
“What Men Would Say When Male-Bashing Is Called “Funny,” But Female-Bashing Is Called “Sexist””
Women Can't Hear What Men Don't Say (2000)
Source: SCUM MANIFESTO (1967), p. 6 (hyphens (not en- or em-dashes); "the egos of the male" so in original & "irreplacable" so in original).