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“Images of strangled women, women in cages do not push any limits; they are a mainstream cliche of a mainstream social order. Rock music fails to live up to its subversive tradition when it eroticizes the same old establishment sadomasochism rather than playing with gender roles to make us look at them afresh”
― Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women

“Black success stories lend credence to the notion that anyone, no matter how poor or how black you may be, can make it to the top, if only you try hard enough. These stories “prove” that race is no longer relevant. Whereas black success stories undermined the logic of Jim Crow, they actually reinforce the system of mass incarceration. Mass incarceration depends for its legitimacy on the widespread belief that all those who appear trapped at the bottom actually chose their fate.”
― Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

“Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”
― Oliver Sacks, Gratitude: Oliver Sacks

“Anyone who seeks to help others—whether by means of religion or by means of medicine—must eschew the use of force.”
― Thomas Szasz, The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct