Women

"Samuel smiled at me. "Freedom and fairness are very important to you, aren't they?" I nodded, and frowned. "They're important to everybody." He laughed. "Oh, no, Anita, you would be amazed at the number of people who try to give away their freedom at every opportunity. They much prefer that someone else make their decisions.""

"[Talking to friend Veronica, Anita Blake worries she may be pregnant.] Ronnie: I could ask, who's the father, but that's just creepy. If you are, then it's this little tiny, microscopic lump of cells. It's not a baby. It's not a person, not yet. Anita: We'll have to disagree on that one. Ronnie: You're pro-choice. Anita: Yep, I am, but I also believe that abortion is taking a life. I agree women have the right to choose, but I also think that it's still taking a life. Ronnie: That's like saying you're pro-choice and pro-life. You can't be both. Anita: I'm pro-choice because I've never been a fourteen-year-old incest victim pregnant by her father, or a woman who's going to die if the pregnancy continues, or a rape victim, or even a teenager who made a mistake. I want women to have choices, but I also believe that it's a life, especially once it's big enough to live outside the womb."

"...Men, it’s time to stop body-shaming women. It’s time to tune into your what’s driving your comments and how they impact women’s opinions of themselves and one another. It’s time to support your wives, friends and daughters to see themselves beyond their body....My body is mine. Hers is hers. Yours is yours...My size, and the size of any woman’s body, is none of your business..."

"My daughter occasionally goes on a hugging and kissing strike....No, she doesn't have to....She doesn't have to hug or kiss anyone just because I say so, not even me. I will not override my own child's currently strong instincts to back off from touching someone who she chooses not to touch...I figure her body is actually hers, not mine....It doesn't belong to her parents, uncles and aunts, school teachers or soccer coach. While she must treat people with respect, she doesn't have to offer physical affection to please them. And the earlier she learns ownership of herself and responsibility for her body, the better for her."

""...Who do you know that has ever said, “I’m going to get really drunk and then drive around on public roads?”; Who do you know that has ever said, “I’m going to go out in public, but I refuse to wear a face mask?”"

"I had an abortion. I just simply wasn’t in a place, financially or emotionally to take that on. I was and still am glad I had that choice because that’s exactly what it was, it was my choice, my body."

"....The only concern you will be sharing with them is when the participation in such activities is coerced and non-consensual. When participants are under duress or are incapable of giving their consent (as in case of mentally or physically challenged or intoxicated persons), forcing them is wrong in every sense. Our dispute arises against their omnipotent audacity to claim that the consenting women are so damaged and exploited by the patriarchy that their consent is neither voluntary nor free. If my consent for my adult acts is alleged to be notional, why won't you call a wife's freedom offered by the institution of marriage an illusion? Is a married woman devoid of the patriarchal cultural dictate? Isn't she expected to present her sexy avatar to her divine husband and to surrender? Is it not objectification? When you are reacting to my actions on the screen, don't you think that I AM the owner of my own body? Can you think so about your wife when you are imposing yourself on her? Irony is that a wife's conduct has to conform to the approved text of patriarchy. Sunny, you are free of all this hypocrisy. Don't believe in the accusation of married women that you corrupt their husbands as was alleged by the interviewer. He conveniently hide the statistics showing the percentage of female surfers of the porn sites."

"..Had you replied, "I had or have no regrets for being a porn star. I entertained you just like any other star on the big or small screen....I'm proud that I didn't have to use anyone else's body to hike the TRP or to hit the box office."..." I wonder how the next 18 minutes of the air time would've been covered! , I was not at all surprised by his "around the bush? approach. I would've admired him had he interrogated you straight by giving the anti-porn feminist rap about "commoditization or objectification of female body; how it's a systemized degradation, and how it leads to proliferation of sexual violence etc.? Since he isn't smart enough to drop names beyond Aamir Khan, you could've quoted scholars like Andrea Dworkin, Catharine MacKinnon whose crusade has been to regulate if not eradicate pornography. There upon throwing 's name who asserts that pornography benefits women both personally and politically, you could've asked, "If we as feminists believe in "my body, my choice?, why cannot pornography within the regulatory limits be my Sunny, this is a classic duel between individual freedom and social control. The present day hash-tags about intolerance erupt from this very conflict. Where do you draw the line between "allowed? and "offensive?? Who draws that line? Who gives them that right to override your personal liberty?"

"The public debate that 'Aurat March' has triggered is groundbreaking, Men, for centuries, believed they owned women's bodies, so a placard asserting a woman's right to her own body is not going down well with them."

"Another Instagram user "...“Don’t we need to ensure that we live in a world where your/God’s body is respected?..""

"One Instagram user "..“My body is not mine, but rather Allah’s..”."

"...The lack of autonomy is a cruelty thrust on them by a society that has decided their value is in their biology, not their minds...To have a soul is to be human, to have bodily autonomy is to exist freely."

"The right to control and make decisions about our own bodies is fundamental to women's freedom. Seems simple right? Logically 'My body my choice' should be met with "Her body her choice." But far too often it's not. Instead "My body my choice" is often is met with a resounding wall of "not really your body, not really your choice." And yes this makes steam comes out of my ears. My ears are in my body, by the way. There is good reason for this steam; A woman's right to access to birth control, abortion, and reproductive health care has all been increasingly under attack in the past several years."

"Still my body is not determined by my limitations. Rather I create my body through my choices and my actions, in this I have created myself.My entire lived experience determines my body. My choice...,my habits...result in what I may call at any moment - for that time - by body. My body is mutable chargeable living substance. It is continuous with my mind, which is no less subject to temporal change, mutability, growth, and decay, and no less a product of my exercise of choice and free will."

"It's My life, my choice and my responsibility"

"My body, my choice! has long been the rallying cry of the abortion movement. In recent years, advocates made a more concerted effort to substantiate the sound bite by pushing a philosophical argument for abortion they called the “bodily autonomy” (or bodily “integrity”) argument. ... The argument goes like this: The highest moral good is to have autonomy over one’s own body. This autonomy includes the right to kill the body of a preborn child attached to and reliant on my body. Therefore, abortion is moral."

"I have poetry on my body and the idea is my body is mine to use and abuse,.....It's mine. It's not God's or anybody else's. It's mine. I'm a writer and I see myself as a canvas, as a space where I can write as well,"

"“....My body, my choice, my life, my … Free yourself from people’s judgement, feel liberated, live with a kind heart & love yourself, or change till you do… For when you truly love yourself, you can truly love someone other than you...""

"I have been trolled a lot of times for my size, make-up, clothes, hair, for my low cleavage. ..... Sometimes I gain or lose weight, so they have a problem with that too. There are times when they don't like my clothes or dance, so they comment on that too. I want to tell these faceless people it is my body, my choice I will do what I feel is right. I have earned it,"

"Justice is a day where I can confidently say, “My sexuality, my decision. My body, my choice.”"

"Mera jism, meri marzi literally means that womxn want bodily autonomy and have the right to make decisions concerning their bodies"

"“My Body My Choice” His Body My choice. His life My choice. His money My choice. His freedom My choice. His mannerisms My choice. His family My Choice. His decisions My Choice – Stop these double standards and then say this is a patriarchal society."

"'..My fans love the fact that everything I’m doing is my choice. It’s my body. I want what I do to be memorable and so do my fans – I’m just living, just being.’"

"...Trans persons should have the right to access legal and safe healthcare which includes medical procedures, surgeries, and hormones without discrimination. Folks who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and two-spirit should not be forced into conversion therapy and should have the right to engage in sexual relationships without violations towards their bodily autonomy...."

"..When we say that people should have full bodily autonomy, that having bodily autonomy is a human right, we mean that people should have full control over their body and be able to freely make choices concerning their body (unless it means that your choice will cause public health concerns and outbreaks, making other people ill, such as within the case of refusing vaccinations)...Bodily autonomy is a human right, a concept that is applied not only to abortion, but also for ending human rights violations such as slavery, female genital mutilation, forced sterilization, sex trafficking, sexual assault, rape, to name some examples.....Your fight for bodily autonomy must be all-inclusive. If your fight for human rights are not universal, it is self serving and it allows unjust harm onto vulnerable and marginalized peoples. One should have full control over their body. Our body. Our choice..."

"Men, women and even kids need to learn this important lesson about boundaries and consent. Just like we teach kids not to let strangers touch them or let even those they know well touch them inappropriately, women have a right to claim their own bodies and not be forced to do things that someone else wants them to."

"But the chant ‘Mera Jism Meri Marzi‘ is important because of the vast injustices women in Pakistan and all around the world have to face at the hands of the patriarchy against their very own bodies. The message behind the slogan is important. Like a man, it is a woman’s right to choose whatever happens with her body. Whether she chooses to follow a certain religion or whether she chooses to walk around proudly without any clothes, it is her right to do as she wants and nobody else has a right to prevent her from exercising her choice."

"#shesaid2025 - Linda Ayade, wife of the former Governor of Cross River State, Nigeria, West Africa is quoted to have said "Girls must wait until they are ready before having sex. Otherwise, they risk unwanted pregnancy which is often an impediment to improvements in the educational, economic and social status of girls all over the world...""...Sexual activity also exposes girls to the risk of HIV/AIDS and other STDs". See:"

"Maldives becomes the first country to achieve ‘triple elimination’ of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B - WHO"

"Women need options for HIV prevention, as women worldwide may not always be able to control their own risk of HIV infection. Another option for HIV prevention is exciting and ground-breaking."

"One of the stumbling blocks in our prevention [efforts against HIV] has been the inconsistency or lack of efficacy of pre-exposure prophylaxis in those who need it the most. Namely young women, particularly those in southern Africa."

"Feminism, human rights and zero discrimination are values deeply rooted across the world: they express our humanity, our recognition that I am because you are. And they are central to the struggle to beat AIDS. Let us beat AIDS. It can be done."

"Worldwide, AIDS remains the biggest killer of women aged 15–49 years. To end AIDS by 2030, we must end gender-based violence, inequality and insecurity and we must ensure that women and girls have equal access to education, health and employment. We need to transform our societies so that no one is second class and everyone’s human rights are respected. AIDS cannot be beaten while marginalized communities, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, people who inject drugs and sex workers, live in fear of the state or of socially sanctioned violence and abuse. Beating AIDS depends on tackling all forms of discrimination. I want to thank all the brave and determined social justice movements who are the true leaders in this work. I salute you."

"As the Executive Director of UNAIDS, I lead the work of the United Nations to tackle AIDS. I’m also someone who has lost family members to AIDS. This is personal. Both my own family experience and our collective experience at the United Nations have highlighted the same key lesson: the struggle to beat AIDS is inseparable from the struggle for women’s rights and from the struggle against all forms of discrimination. AIDS can be beaten, but it will only be beaten if we take on the social and economic injustices that perpetuate it and spur more scientific innovations to address the real needs of women and girls and people living with and vulnerable to HIV."

"As already noted, the church in Africa is facing a grim reality even when it comes to sex in marriage. According to UNICEF, teenage brides in some African countries are becoming infected with the AIDS virus at higher rates than sexually active unmarried girls of similar ages. That’s because young brides are acquiring HIV from their husbands, who tend to be many years older and were infected before marriage. 75% of new infections among adolescents and young people in sub-Saharan Africa are among girls and young women. Clearly, abstinence and fidelity prevention strategies will not reliably protect these women. The result is reflected in the epidemiology of the disease: More than two-thirds of new HIV infections among people aged fifteen to twenty-five occur among women. In some areas of Africa, girls are five to six times more likely to be HIV-positive than boys of the same age. The suffering associated with these alarming trends is difficult to comprehend. Stephen Lewis, UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, summarized it this way: “To this catalogue of horrors, there must be added, in the case of Africa, that the pandemic is now, conclusively and irreversibly, a ferocious assault on women and girls.” What has been called the “feminization of poverty” is a particularly lethal phenomenon in conjunction with AIDS."

"She’s used to getting smacked, and won’t give in until you threaten her and really force her."

"I feel officials treated my sister like an animal and killed her"

"I woke up that night to the screams of women. I don’t know when I’d fallen asleep, or passed out, but when I woke up, the manic, lost, women were all around me, walking, shambling. I remember that night, my first night in this asylum – I had retreated into the corner, into the shadows, and looked through the bars, bars that had been chained with many locks. The locks were like eyes: the eyes of a man’s vigilance. As I focused, the lock slowly extended to reveal the form of a man, a man sprawling on the bed: I thought of the violence of beds, of my marriage. The man on this bed was my husband – a man who used to beat me metal-blue to eliminate his fear of women. There were other ways of elimination: polishing his black boots and making them shine, washing his clothes, suspending them onto a hanging wire. And the starvation. And the rising lilt of his family’s voices: awaara. A cuss word, a slap – his marriage to me? – The violence of a mongering dog, his teeth digging into my flesh. His skin the color of a chameleon turned blue. Me? I was a churi, a glass bangle. The house? The impersonation of a ghetto. My agency, his anger. So I ran. I ran to a divorce, yes, and I reached my destination after six months of torture. But the six months led to psychosis. So my mother dragged me here, to this mental asylum. Then I woke up, that night, to the screams of women."

"Women are frequently treated as property, they are sold into marriage, into trafficking, into sexual slavery. Violence against women frequently takes the form of sexual violence. Victims of such violence are often accused of promiscuity and held responsible for their fate, while infertile women are rejected by husbands, families and communities. In many countries, married women may not refuse to have sexual relations with their husbands, and often have no say in whether they use contraception [...] Ensuring that women have full autonomy over their bodies is the first crucial step towards achieving substantive equality between women and men. Personal issues—such as when, how and with whom they choose to have sex, and when, how and with whom they choose to have children—are at the heart of living a life in dignity."

"Feminism in the United States has never emerged from the women who are most by sexist ; women who are daily beaten down, mentally, physically, and spiritually-women who are powerless to change their condition in life. They are a silent majority. A mark of their victimization is that they accept their lot in life without visible question, without organized protest, without collective anger or rage."

"Violence against women and the expropriation of their , as well as the higher level of exploitation of their paid labor, are integral to the way in which power is organized in capitalist society—and how it seeks to divide rather than unify the population. More than a third of women worldwide have experienced physical/. , in particular, are objectified, reified, and commodified as part of the normal workings of monopoly-capitalist marketing."

"For sheer brutality on woman, I do not remember anything in history to match the Malabar rebellion."

"We all grow in a culture in which women's bodies are constantly turned into things, into objects. [...] Of course these affects female self-steem. It also does something even more insidious. It create a climate in which there is wide-spread violence against women. [...] Turning a human being into a thing is the first step towards justified violence against that person."

"The girl was handed over to her family this evening after returning to Iraq"

"Glass ceiling feminism is grounded from the very outset in hierarchies. I mean, how else does that metaphor work? Those who are already high enough to reach the ceiling are probably white, and then if they're not white, they are already affluent. Because they're at the top. All they have to do is push through the ceiling. And as long as I have identified as a feminist, it has been clear to me that any feminism that privileges those that already have privilege is bound to be irrelevant to poor women, working class women, women of color, trans women, trans women of color. If standards for feminism are created by those who have already ascended economic hierarchies and are attempting to make the last climb to the top, how is this relevant to women who are at the very bottom? Revolutionary hope resides precisely among those women who have been abandoned by history and who are now standing up and making their demands heard."

"Grassroots feminists continue to be undermined by single-issue liberals who believe that by breaking a class-entitled glass ceiling—'beating the boys at their own game'—there is some kind of "trickle down" effect on the actual lives of workingclass and poor women and children. This is the same "trickle down" of our share of corporate profit, secured by tax benefits for the wealthy, that has yet to land on our kitchen tables, our paychecks, or our children's public school educations. Social change does not occur through tokenism or exceptions to the rule of discrimination, but through the systemic abolishment of the rule itself."

"Though friendships differ endless in degree, The sorts, methinks, may be reduced to three. Acquaintance many, and Conquaintance few, But for Inquaintance I know only two — The friend I've wept and the maid I woo."

"Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever; Do noble things, not dream them, all day long; And so make Life, and Death, and that For-Ever, One grand sweet song"

"Should ever the fine-eyed maid to me be kind; Ah! surely it must be whenever I find; Some flowery spot, sequestered, wild, romantic; That often must have seen a poet frantic."

"Yonder a maid and her wight Come whispering by: War's annals will cloud into night Ere their story die."