Ann Oakley Quotations

Being a good mother does not call for the same qualities as being a good housewife; a dedication to keeping children clean and tidy may override an interest in their separate development as individuals.

If love means that one person absorbs the other, then no real relationship exists any more. Love evaporates; there is nothing left to love. The integrity of self is gone.

There are always women who will take men on their own terms. If I were a man I wouldn't bother to change while there are women like that around.

Housework is work directly opposed to the possibility of human self-actualization.

Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman's natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.

Families are nothing other than the idolatry of duty.

Men are the enemies of women. Promising sublime intimacy, unequalled passion, amazing security and grace, they nevertheless exploit and injure in a myriad subtle ways. Without men the world would be a better place: softer, kinder, more loving; calmer, quieter, more humane.

Being a "good" mother does not call for the same qualities as being a "good" housewife. . . . a dedication to keeping children clean and tidy may override an interest in their separate development as individuals.