“I feel like I have a responsibility to my community and other young girls to help redefine what it looks like to be a woman. I don’t believe in men’s wear or women’s wear, I just like what I like. And I think we should just be respected for being an individual…. I’ve been in Vogue, now, and different publications, which is cool, because I think that it just shows a different perspective of how women can dress.”

- Janelle Monae

If you haven’t checked Janelle Monae out yet, I recommend that you start here.  Quote from i09.

“Children should be allowed to express themselves in whatever way they wish without anybody judging them because it is an important part of their growth… Society always has something to learn when it comes to the way we judge each other, label each other. We have far to go…  I think she [her daughter Shiloh] is fascinating, the choices she is making. And I would never be the kind of parent to force somebody to be something they are not. I think that is just bad parenting.”

- Angelina Jolie

From ET via Jezebel.

A few months ago I posted on why I blog.  Shelby Knox has expressed a similar sentiment in one of her guest-posts over at Feministe, and I wanted to pass it along:

“For many in my generation, the internet feminist community serves the same purpose as consciousness raising groups of the 1970’s. Feminist (and womanist, gender justice, mujerista and women’s liberationist and the many subsets of these) blogs are where we get angry over shared grievances, organize against said inequalities, and build and strengthen our feminist community. Disagreements that break out in the comment threads over everything from what’s offensive and what can be reclaimed to the very meaning of the term ‘feminism’ serve the same purpose as heated debates in women’s studies classes: to sharpen our critique and analysis and build on the shared knowledge and ideology of varying expressions of varying feminisms. The difference is that, while the playing field is nowhere near as equal as it should and must be, the participants in the conversation don’t have to pony up $30,000 a year or even leave their apartments to join in.”

Rock on, feminist bloggers.

“Historically, country music would rather an artist be a drunk – they even encourage and endorse that one. You get good money from Jim Beam to put that emblem on the side of your bus. I was on the Crown Royal tour, and I have to say it was one of my favorite tours. They would rather you were a drug addict than be gay. They will forgive you if you beat your wife, lose your kids to state, get six divorces, make a sex tape, get labeled as a tramp – any and all of it is better than being gay.”

- Chely Wright

From LA Times via Jezebel.

Here’s a little more from Eve Ensler, on how the world fears girls because of their strength.

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“Because she [Juno] kept the baby everybody said the film was against abortion. But if she’d had an abortion everybody would have been like, “Oh my God”. I am a feminist and I am totally pro-choice, but what’s funny is when you say that people assume that you are pro-abortion. I don’t love abortion but I want women to be able to choose and I don’t want white dudes in an office being able to make laws on things like this. I mean what are we going to do – go back to clothes hangers?”

-Ellen Page

Check out the whole interview at the Guardian.  Also, 10 more reasons to love Ellen Page.

“It really saddens me that so many young people suffer from low self esteem and feel unhappy with their appearance. I think that, at times, we can be very hard on ourselves, which is certainly something I have experienced in my own life. I managed to overcome those negative thoughts by being healthy, thinking positively and making small changes to my lifestyle that make me feel good about myself, such as taking more exercise and being true to yourself.”

- Kelly Osbourne

From Mirror via Jezebel.

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.