Women

"Modern American Indian women, like their non-Indian sisters, are deeply engaged in the struggle to redefine themselves. In their struggle they must reconcile traditional tribal definitions of women with industrial and postindustrial non-Indian definitions. Yet while these definitions seem to be more or less mutually exclusive, Indian women must somehow harmonize and integrate both in their own lives. An American Indian woman is primarily defined by her tribal identity. In her eyes, her destiny is necessarily that of her people, and her sense of herself as a woman is first and foremost prescribed by her tribe. The definitions of woman’s roles are as diverse as tribal cultures in the Americas. In some she is devalued, in others she wields considerable power. In some she is a familial/clan adjunct, in some she is as close to autonomous as her economic circumstances and psychological traits permit. But in no tribal definitions is she perceived in the same way as are women in western industrial and postindustrial cultures."

""​There​ are so many down moments but how you manage them and how you are able to overcome them is left for God.""

""​I believe that if you are someone who has the passion to do good, you will face a lot of challenges.""

"The women are large, they have fine figures and are, most of them, handsome. They wear a cotton cloth round the loins, reaching down below the knees, or often, and especially on week-days, a “tappa” or native cloth, made from the Paper Mulberry. The missionaries have compelled them to cover their breasts, which is done with a flap of cloth thrown up in front, and a fine is imposed on any woman seen abroad without this additional covering. The women, however, evidently have little idea of shame in the matter; and often the cloth is put on so loosely that it affords no cover at all."

"The hair of the women was formerly cut short, as amongst so many savages where the men keep to themselves the right of cultivating and decorating the hair, but now it is often allowed to grow long and fall down the back. It is oiled and powdered with sandal-wood dust as a perfume. On Sundays a few women appear in complete European dress, wearing muslin gowns, and hats profusely decorated with gaudy artificial flowers. The girls are most accomplished coquettes."

"Trans women are women. We may not be “exactly like” cis women, but then again, cis women are not all “exactly like” one another either. But what we do share is that we all identify and move through the world as women. And because of this, we all regularly face sexism. That is what we should be focusing on and working together to challenge. And as I said at the outset, forcing trans women into a separate group that is distinct from cis women does not in any way help achieve feminism’s central goal of ending sexism. In fact, it only serves to undermine our collective cause."

"Trans women do not transition out of a desire to be feminine; we transition out of a self-understanding that we are or should be female (commonly referred to as gender identity)."

"While gender socialization is quite real, all of us are capable of overcoming or transcending the socialization that we experienced as children. And gender socialization doesn’t simply stop when one reaches adulthood: All of us are constantly facing gender-related social pressures, expectations, and obstacles throughout our lives. If you believe that these statements are true for cis women, then they also must be true for trans women."

"Trans women who are conventionally feminine are not in any way asserting or insinuating that all women should be conventionally feminine, or that femininity is all there is to being a woman. Like cis women, trans women dress the way we do in order to express ourselves, not to critique or caricature other women."

"Like women more generally, many trans women are feminists. Feminism and transgender activism are not in any way incompatible or mutually exclusive. As feminists who acknowledge intersectionality, we believe that we should be fighting to end all forms of sexism and marginalization — this includes both traditional sexism and transphobia. Forcing trans women into a separate group that is distinct from cis women does not in any way help achieve feminism’s central goal of ending sexism."

"Trans women differ greatly from one another. Perhaps the only thing that we share in common is a self-understanding that there was something wrong with our being assigned a male sex at birth and/or that we should be female instead. While some cisgender people refuse to take our experiences seriously, the fact of the matter is that transgender people can be found in virtually every culture and throughout history; current estimates suggest that we make up 0.2 – 0.3% of the population [or possibly more]. [...] In other words, we simply exist."

"Claims that trans women are not women often rely on essentialist (and therefore incorrect) assumptions about biology. For instance, people might argue that trans women are not “genetically female,” despite the fact that we cannot readily ascertain anybody’s sex chromosomes. Indeed, most people have never even had their sex chromosomes examined, and those that do are sometimes surprised by the results. Other common appeals to biology center on reproduction — e.g., stating that trans women have not experienced menstruation, or cannot become pregnant. This ignores the fact that some cisgender women never menstruate and/or are unable to become pregnant. Claims about genitals are similarly problematic: Women’s genitals vary greatly, and as with chromosomes and reproductive capabilities, we cannot readily see other people’s genitals in everyday encounters. If you and I were to meet, should I refuse to recognize or refer to you as a woman unless you show me your genitals? And frankly, what could possibly be more sexist than reducing a woman to what’s between her legs? Isn’t that precisely what sexist men have been doing to women for centuries on end?"

"As a trans woman, I will be the first to admit that I cannot possibly know what any other woman experiences or feels on the inside. But the thing is, the trans-women-aren’t-women crowd cannot possibly know what any other woman experiences or feels either! Every woman is different. We share some overlapping experiences, but we also differ in every possible way. Every trans woman I know acknowledges this diversity. In contrast, it’s the cis women who attempt to exclude us who seem to have a singular superficial stereotypical notion of what constitutes a woman, or of what women experience."

"In trans women who have initiated hormone therapy, but who have not undergone genital reconstruction surgery, difficulty in achieving orgasm was seen to decrease. In one study, the prevalence of orgasmic dysfunction decreased to 29.2% from 46.7% after the initiation of hormone therapy. Whether this finding can be attributed to the simultaneous decrease in gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia associated with the initiation of hormone therapy still needs to be investigated. Ability to orgasm in trans women post-vaginoplasty has also been studied. Due to the unique anatomy of trans women post-operatively, it must be noted that orgasms can occur at multiple locations including the clitoris and prostate via masturbation or vaginal penetration, for example. There is variability in the rates of orgasm post-operatively with studies citing percentages between 40–100%. These studies used the FSFI to assess orgasmic scores and demonstrated ranges of 2.82 to 4.0 out of 6 in comparison to cisgender women without sexual dysfunction who scored an average of 5.1. When analyzing the correlation between sexual activity and achieving orgasm, one study found that direct stimulation of the clitoris had a higher frequency of orgasm when compared to intercourse. In assessing frequency and quality of orgasms post-operatively, studies are inconsistent. While one study reported an increase in orgasm frequency with sexual activity post-operatively, another study of 91 trans women postoperatively found orgasms to occur less frequently in 52.6% of participants and more frequently in 20.5% of participants. Quality of orgasms, when investigated, was found to be more pleasurable postoperatively in 51% of a 218 person study and with no changes in 62.5% of a 31 person study."

"Multiple studies have compared sexual arousal levels of trans women post-operatively with sexual arousal in cisgender women. In these studies, 90–100% of trans women reported experiencing sexual arousal post-operatively, but when level of sexual arousal was assessed using the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI), sexual arousal scores were overall lower in trans women than in their cisgender counterparts."

"Research exploring the lived experience of sexuality for trans women is limited, with conceptualizations focusing largely on exploring deficits or the impact of gender-affirming medical care, such as hormone therapy (HT) and/or surgeries."

"The most frequent sexual dysfunctions experienced by trans women and trans men were difficulties initiating and seeking sexual contact (26% and 32%, respectively) and difficulties achieving an orgasm (29% and 15%, respectively). Compared with trans women after hormone treatment and non-genital surgery, trans women after vaginoplasty less often experienced arousal difficulties, sexual aversion, and low sexual desire. Compared with trans men without medical treatment, trans men after a phalloplasty experienced sexual aversion and low sexual desire less often."

"Trans women are much more likely to report sexual arousal without orgasm, and lower levels of sexual desire in general. Studies with trans women in particular find a wide variance in ability to experience orgasm post vaginoplasty surgery, ranging from 17-100% across 140 different studies. However, these studies are focused mostly on adults who transitioned in adulthood. At this time, there do not appear to be any studies which examine sexual health or orgasmic experience in trans individuals who initiated affirmative treatment prior to adulthood or the onset of puberty."

"A further study highlights that as many as 26% of a sample of 307 trans women reported difficulties initiating sexual contact, 29% reported difficulties achieving orgasm, and that vaginoplasty was associated with a reduction in difficulties with sexual arousal and sexual aversion (Kerckhof et al., 2019)."

"Research into the impact of transition on sexuality reports that, following the commencement of HT, some trans women experience a temporary change in sexual desire (Defreyne et al., 2020). Research has found that trans women are less likely to engage in sexual activities before accessing gender-affirming care (Scheim & Bauer, 2019), and some experience a reduction in sexual activities after starting HT (Knezevich et al., 2012). Rosenberg et al. (2019) also found a difference in orgasm experience after commencing HT in trans women. One clinic-based study further found that as many as 32% of trans women may experience a change in sexual orientation during medical transition (Auer et al., 2014). Barcelos et al. (2022) conducted a systematic review of the available literature concerning trans women’s sexual functioning. They found that, of the 17 available studies, there was a large divergence in how sexual functioning was measured, and overall, there was limited evidence that gender-affirming surgery improved sexual functioning overall."

"Women who insist that trans women are not women often object to being called “cis women” under the false assumption that it somehow undermines their femaleness — this is not at all the purpose of this language. The sole purpose of cis terminology is to name the unmarked majority (similar to how one might refer to white women, or heterosexual women, or able-bodied women, etc.). In other words, referring to someone as “cisgender” simply means that they have not had a transgender experience."

"There is no panacea, but priorities should include improving teachers’ working conditions, ensuring quality pre-service education, providing continuous professional development and establishing clear career paths and related competencies"

"I decided to concentrate on my family but of course I was abreast with happenings in the industry"

"I can tell you, I now have three boys to take care of. My husband and two sons."

"I do not feel I missed anything. There is time for everything as far as I know. I left Nigeria and Nollywood when God wanted me to leave. I am very happy that what came in terms of marriage at that time and which took me away came when it came."

"I don’t like doing something and later jump out of it. I take my time to do whatsoever I want to do making sure it is the right decision."

"I am scared of marriage, we see divorce everyday. Although no one goes into marriage believing she would soon jump out of it. I strongly believe that before a couple considers divorce, they must have put in their best to make it work, all to no avail. Marriage in the limelight is not easy, even those outside it are not surviving easily."

"I left Nollywood and traveled out of Nigeria because of marriage. I left so as to join my husband. I believe a woman should join her husband and not the other way round."

"Marriage, There Is More To It Than Riches."

"I will not say I have always wanted to be an actor, but I have always loved to be on television as a broadcaster. But somehow, acting found me and here I am today."

"I feel like a woman who is not yet married."

"When I shot my first movie; after the heat, I disappeared. I told them I could not cope with it and I did not want to act anymore. They called me for a second job, telling me that I would be allowed to leave after that."

"A lot of men in their twenties say they admire me and want to date me. I am sure most of them think I am really young. Sometimes, I find it annoying because if they know my actual age, they wouldn’t come close or show interest in me. Some of them are young enough to be my younger brothers."

"I'm Offended When Younger Guys Ask Me Out."

"Real People Don’t Care."

"I ran away because I felt I could not deal with the pressure and drama. But, after sometime, I realised that it could be the right place for me. Now, I do not need anyone to tell me that it is meant for me. If I decide to leave Nollywood today, it is because I want to."

"Social media era is stirring a lot of things. It is not everything one sees on it that is true, so don’t make people your prayer points. You don’t know what that person is going through (in real life). Why don’t you create your own happiness? Also, don’t ask God for what you cannot handle. Not every billionaire is happy. I weep when I see a lot of things going on online. The morals that we grew up with are all gone. We need to get back to the drawing board. Social media is turning people into what they are not because they want to ‘feel among’, even if they don’t have the capacity."

"Not every billionaire is happy"

"I must not feature, but why would I produce a movie and I am not in it? Remember other people pay me to be in their movies. I feel it is what I love to do and being part of it adds value to the movie."

"Women hold a very low position in Corean estimation, and count for little in the sight of the law. Not only are they destitute of all political and social influence, but they are not held personally responsible for their actions, and live in a state of lifelong pupilage."

"The goal was ‘every child a wanted child’; it should also have been ‘every abortion a wanted abortion’, but the two sides of the phony debate were never to meet."

""If you believe in God and you are sure this is what God will have you do, just hang in there and be persistent"."

""I love the fact that I do different things at different times. Being able to change your perception, look and voice to fit into that of someone else is refreshing for me"."

"... although close to nothing was known, until recently, of the history of women in American science, women have been an integral part of the scientific community for well over a century. I can still recall my astonishment when I discovered in 1972 some women's entries in the old directories, and when I read biographies of several scientists in the then-new '. Here were people who had been present at many of the familiar places and events, but who were totally unknown even to those of us well versed in the history of American science. I felt like a modern Alice who had fallen down a rabbit hole into a wonderland of the history of science that was familiar in some respects but distorted and alien in many others. Learning more about these women and bringing their stories into closer connection with the rest of the history of this period became a compelling and absorbing intellectual task."

"I think most importantly, men tend to get the top jobs, with which they get a bully pulpit for publication and speaking or exerting authority. I think women can be much more appreciated in science than they are."

"... As early as 1982, 's superbly researched first volume on women scientists in America startled its readers with its meticulously drawn picture of the double bind women scientists fell into from the late nineteenth into the early twentieth century. Caught between 'two almost mutually exclusive stereotypes' they were 'atypical' as both women and scientists. Thus, even as higher education opened up to them, they found it easier to be educated in science than to be successfully employed in it: an impasse which proved to be long-lasting."

"The administration and faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) performed the first and most famous in-depth study on the status of women faculty within a particular institution. A group of senior women on the faculty had gathered preliminary evidence that they had less laboratory space, less access to research funding, and lower salaries than their male counterparts. In addition, they were infrequently represented on committees that made decisions about hiring and research funding. MIT's administration responded by researching the charges, finding that they were accurate, and taking steps to correct the inequities. The abstract to their report is an excellent description of the issues that still confront women scientists and analysis of why they went unrecognized by administration as well as by the women themselves."

"The act that a woman performs in voluntarily terminating, or allowing another person to terminate, her pregnancy."

"Intention definitely played a very strong role in sort of how our respondents thought through the different scenarios," VandeVusse says. For instance, "when people were talking about taking emergency contraception the day after intercourse, we had folks who were saying, 'Well, you know, they wanted to end their pregnancy, so it's an abortion,' even if they're not pregnant." She says many respondents seemed unsure about how pregnancy works and how complications can unfold. "We don't speak openly about a lot of reproductive experiences, particularly abortion, but also miscarriage," says VandeVusse. "These are both stigmatized and very personal experiences."

"The expulsion or removal of a fetus from the womb before it is capable of independent survival."