feministhemes.com

As promised, here are the quotes I collected for the body image project I have been working on.  Feel free to add more in the comments if you know of any good ones that I missed.  Also, some of these are repeats of previous quick quotes, so don’t be surprised if you experience a little deja vu here and there.

“More than ever now, I believe it’s so important to look as real and true to life as possible, because nobody’s perfect. I seem to be on a mission, but I don’t want the next generation, your daughters and mine, growing up thinking that you have to be thin to look beautiful in certain clothes. It’s terrifying right now. It’s out of control. It’s beyond out of control.”

- Kate Winslet (shoutouts to Emily at Jukebox Heroines)

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“For me, it might sound cliché, but beauty for me really does start on the inside. It’s like a state of mind, a state of love if you will. Then, whatever you can do on the outside is all like a bonus.”

- Queen Latifah

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“’Real Women Have Curves’ was a breakthrough for me, because it was tailored for who I was at a specific period in time. It said that there are different body types that are beautiful. I think that opened so many doors for me and gave all women a boost of confidence.”

- America Ferrera

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“I was never mocked, and I was always able to defend myself by joking around. But sometimes it has been painful and it has hurt my feelings. I cannot ignore the whole world, but I want to accept the way that I am and I don’t want to change. Life is too short for that!”

- Beth Ditto

More after the jump

“Not only would I not get married until everyone else can, I kind of am starting to get appalled by anybody who would get married in this day and age. Anyone who considers themselves for equal rights — to get married right now, seems very odd to me.”

- Sarah Silverman

From CNN via Jezebel.

“The male society is letting the men think of the women as something pretty and soft and that kind of thing, especially in those days, you know. So I just wanted to show what we were. Women are the ones who actually created the human race. I mean without us bringing up the new generation, there wouldn’t be a human race. So we have this very strong powerful energy in us. But the world wants to think that it’s the weaker sex. So that’s why I want to bring out this thing from me.”

– Yoko Ono

On how she got the idea to do primal scream-type music (overhearing a a kid people discussing the sound of childbirth).

From Mother Jones via Jezebel.

“I’m not a poster child for gay rights by any means. But I have so many gay and lesbian friends
and they’re just so pure and so true. That’s not politics to me. That’s human rights.”

- Dolly Parton

From Times Online via Jezebel.

“In the beginning, it was odd to have so much attention brought to my body type [by Mad Men].  I thought, Uh-oh, brace yourself.  But everyone has been so positive.  During the first season a woman came up to me at dinner and said, ‘I just want to thank you. Watching you has made me proud of my body.’ I thought, What an amazing thing for someone to say! To make anyone feel good about themselves makes me feel good.”

- Christina Hendrix
“Joan” of Mad Men

From Marie Claire via the Feb/Mar issue of BUST magazine.

“There’s a direct connection between a woman’s ability to plan her family, space her pregnancies, and give birth safely, and her ability to get an education, work outside the home, support her family, and participate fully in the life of her community.

When a girl becomes a mother before she becomes literate, when a woman gives birth alone and is left with a permanent disability, when a mother toils daily to feed her large family but cannot convince her husband to agree to contraception, these struggles represent suffering that can and should be avoided. They represent potential that goes unfulfilled. And they also represent an opportunity to extend critical help to women worldwide and the children who depend on them.

Investing in the health of women, adolescents, and girls is not only the right thing to do; it is also the smart thing to do.”

- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s
Remarks on the 15th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development

Full transcript here via Jezebel.

“I’m really glad that I got to do it [Alien], because I was allowed to play a woman as a complicated character, without a man. And when I see some of these women in action movies now, I still think there is too much attention paid to what they’re wearing. I didn’t have to be a superwoman in a tiny outfit. I was playing this complicated person who happened to be a woman. She may have been sexy, but that wasn’t her main thing.”

- Sigourney Weaver

From Daily Mail via Jezebel.

“Yes, at this age it’s unusual for somebody to do a love scene, to be making love…. [But] It’s authentic. The whole idea that you have to look a certain way and be a certain age to earn love is ridiculous. We love what we love. It doesn’t matter what shape it is. It’s thrilling to see real people on screen.”

- Meryl Streep

Actress Meryl Streep on her performance in the upcoming film, It’s Complicated.  From Times Online via Jezebel.

“With each decade I’ve enjoyed a fuller feeling of womanliness. I’m healthy, busy and happy. I’ve nothing to complain about. And I like my body now. I have more curves. They come from age, but I don’t care. I’m just glad they’re there.”

- Sigourney Weaver

“Like many of you who live in New Jersey, I’ve been following the progress of the marriage-equality legislation currently being considered in Trenton. I’ve long believed in and have always spoken out for the rights of same sex couples… I urge those who support equal treatment for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to let their voices be heard now.”

- Bruce Springsteen

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