Some of our quick quotes haven’t been so quick, so let me introduce our new feature, Quality Quotes.  With the same empowering themes, these quotes are a little longer but just as inspiring.  As the holiday’s approach, time is scarce for me, so expect primarily quick and quality quotes to get us though this month, courtesy of The Essential Feminist Reader edited by Estelle B. Freedman.

“In the case of women, however, we have not been content to refuse them access to the sciences and the civil service after a long prescription against them, but we have gone even further and imagined that their exclusion is based upon some natural feebleness… As to the different aspects of the mind that make it more or less apt for the study of the sciences, we have to agree, if we look honestly at the facts, that the advantages are all on the side of women.”

- Francois Poullain de la Barre
From On the Equality of the Two Sexes
(1673)

Diablo Cody is like a Rorschach test for feminists.  Some women love her for being brilliant, courageous, subversive, and vocal; some women hate her for being trendy, scandalous, irritating, and loud.  Make of her what you will, I have a special place in my heart for any woman willing to rock animal prints as frequently as Ms. Cody does.

1. She uses the F-word fearlessly.

“My feminist hat is permanently welded to my head—I definitely can’t take it off! It’s so important for me to write things from the female perspective and in service of women and in the right roles for women. That’s usually what I’m thinking going into it. Obviously, the story goes first. But then my next priority is how am I going to sneak my subversive feminist message into this?”

2. She has priorities.

“I want to write roles that service women. I want to tell stories from a female perspective. I want to create good parts for actresses where they’re not just accessories to men…”

3. She calls ‘em like she sees ‘em.

“The attitude toward women in this industry is nauseating. There are all sorts of porcine executives who are uncomfortable with a woman doing anything subversive. They want the movie about the beautiful girl who trips and falls, the adorable klutz.”

Click here for 6 more reasons to love Diablo