Perhaps patriarchy's greatest psychological weapon is simply its universality and longevity. ... Patriarchy has a still more tenacious or powerful hold through its successful habit of passing itself off as nature.
Kate MillettFor it is precisely because certain groups have no representation in a number of recognized political structures that their position tends to be so stable, their oppression so continuous.
Kate MillettWhen one group rules another, the relationship between the two is political. When such an arrangement is carried out over a long period of time it develops an ideology (feudalism, racism, etc.). All historical civilizations are patriarchies: their ideology is male supremacy.
Kate MillettYou have to be a little patient if you're an artist. People don't always get you the first time.
Kate MillettHomosexuality was invented by a straight world dealing with its own bisexuality. But finding this difficult, and preferring not toadmit it, it invented a pariah state, a leper colony for the incorrigible whose very existence, when tolerated openly, was admonition to all. We queers keep everyone straight as whores keep matrons virtuous.
Kate Millett