Shell S.

“Being a feminist is an identity we can slip in and out of at our leisure more than ever before. Through largely consuming these ideas in online realms, not only is a sense of tangible community and solidarity lost, but it is far, far easier to focus solely on the perception of self than on the oppression of all. The personal is political in the sense that our experiences of gendered violence, inequality, workplace discrimination, healthcare bias and more can all be pinned to personal experiences to promote personal brands that lead to careers, followings, and opportunities rather than systemic change.
On a fundamental level, it's not surprising that massive corporations preach female empowerment while failing to secure the rights of their workers on every level of the supply chain and allowing men to flourish at the top of their companies. But on a more micro level, these companies twist and distort the worlds of young femmes, imploring them to aspire to the same corrupt standards but to feel good about themselves while doing it.”
― Ione Gamble, Poor Little Sick Girls: A Love Letter to Unacceptable Women

“For a while, the rise of sociopolitical discourse both online and in physical spaces felt like slowly breaking these boundaries down one by one: we started to teach each other that everything we knew about gender, or being fat, or poor, or chronically ill, was decided by a system that had no intention of caring for us. But then the fear of being too much slowly began to reinfect all of our minds. We began to second-guess our ability to change the world, so settled with self-optimising instead.”
― Ione Gamble, Poor Little Sick Girls: A Love Letter to Unacceptable Women

“One of my podcasting friends told me that he does stick up for women in challenging situations, like testosterone-soaked comedy greenrooms, for instance, but complained, “I get mocked for it!” Yes, I know you do. Welcome. Getting yelled at and made fun of is where many of us live all the time. Speaking up costs us friends, jobs, credibility, and invisible opportunities we’ll never even know enough about to regret.”
― Lindy West, The Witches are Coming

“Art didn't invent oppressive gender roles, racial strereotyping, or rape culture, but it reflects, polishes , and sells them back to us every moment of our waking lives. We make art and it makes us simultaneously. Shouldn't it follow, then, that we can change ourselves by changing what we make?”
― Lindy West, The Witches Are Coming