Celebrity Smart Quotes

[petitesuite]

Apr 20, 2017 19:42:47 GMT -4 Mugsy said:

My youngest daughter has always said she doesn't want kids (and confesses to me she really doesn't like them most of the time), and she has been told on several occasions that she is selfish. She's only 23 and works in a service industry while finishing her education, so she feels like she can't really talk back too vehemently to those people, but it burns her.

Sorry, this is from a few pages back but this is so bizarre to me! Having children is a completely selfish decision. There is not a single selfless reason for having them and I say that as someone who would like to have a kid. I guess it's cool that your daughter is making such an amazing impression on these people that they think her not producing further manifestations of her genetic material is a heartless thing to do but also sheesh. It's so weird how there's such a strong correlation between people who feel comfortable saying that to a service person and people who probably should not have been born in the first place.

[Deleted]

A woman's uterus is everyone's business dontcha know, we're far too stupid to decide what to do with them ourselves.

[granolamom]

I know this is off-topic from the no-kids discussion, but I have to return Anna Kendrick's book to the library today and want to immortalize this passage:

'Ninety percent of the people I've worked with who are disruptive or lazy or unskilled or addicts or likely to throw a temper tantrum are men. Ninety percent of the ones who get called "difficult" are women.'

She goes on to talk about how women make an effort to be considered "nice" to avoid being labeled "difficult," and she's trying to walk away from the yoke of being nice.

[Mouse]

Stevie Nicks gave an awesome interview for NPR a few years ago that is full of good quotes. Some highlights:

And I said to Chris [Christine McVie], you know, we can never be treated like second class citizens here. So when we walk into the room, we have to walk in with a big attitude. Which does not mean a snotty conceited attitude. But it means like we have to float in like goddesses, because that is how we want to be treated....

And we were always invited to the party. But it was because we demanded that from the very beginning. 'Cause you know, you can't just, like, be a wimp and then a year and a half or two years later decide to not be a wimp anymore. Because people will always treat you like a wimp once they have decided that's what you are. So you can never, ever be that. You have to be strong and tough and intelligent and smart and kind of plan out what you're going to say and know who you are. So that people will get that right away. Because then they're always going to be great to you. And they're always going to treat you with respect. And that's what you want, because then they listen to you. And then they listen to your songs. And then they give you a chance. Otherwise, you get nowhere.

I've developed an appreciation for Stevie and this is one reason why.

[Atreides]

As if I couldn't love Jason Isaacs anymore. From his Instagram:

Hoping to forget politics for one night and bask in other people's glory at the #Netflix #Emmys party and who do I spot at the bar late at night but the poisonous purveyor of lies #SeanSpicer. What were the Emmys thinking celebrating this modern day Goebbels, who was the thuggish face of Orwellian doublespeak just moments ago? Three surprising things about him: 1) He comes about up to my nipples 2) He doesn't think he should hide himself under a rock from shame for the rest of his life. 3) He's deeply unattractive, from the inside out. Has the aura of a giant festering abscess. Strange, since he was so charismatic at the (elevated) podium. #TooSoon #MuchTooSoon

[luminosa]

Jessica Simpson- 1
Natalie Portman- 0

This is Natalie's quote-
(I will say she is just telling a story about her thoughts from almost 20 years ago, but still...)

Pop culture leaves its footprints: Portman grew up up ingesting all things Madonna. “I felt really lucky to have her as a little kid, because I saw someone who was brazen and disobedient and provocative and trying to mess with people and always changing – I thought it was a great thing to see in a woman growing up,” she says.

But she also remembers the virgin/vixen paradigms lobbed by the music industry as the millennium neared. “I remember being a teenager, and there was Jessica Simpson on the cover of a magazine saying ‘I’m a virgin’ while wearing a bikini, and I was confused. Like, I don’t know what this is trying to tell me as a woman, as a girl,” she says.

Jessica responds with this-

"As public figures, we both know that our image is not totally in our control at all times, and that the industry we work in often tries to define us and box us in. However, I was taught to be myself and honor the different ways all women express themselves, which is why I believed then—and I believe now—that being sexy in a bikini and being proud of my body are not synonymous with having sex. have always embraced being a role model to all women to let them know that they can look however they want, wear whatever they want and have sex or not have sex with whomever they want. The power lies within us as individuals. I have made it my practice to not shame other women for their choices. In this era of Time’s Up and all the great work you have done for women, I encourage you to do the same."

Not sure if Natalie replied to this yet.

[petitesuite]

Maybe I am the real idiot, but I don't think those two quotes have very much to do with each other (I understand Jessica was responding, but either there's more context to what Natalie said or Jessica just kind of saw her name and ran with it). Nothing in Natalie's quote reads very 'shaming' to me, and I agree with her that publicly prizing a very narrow version of virginity (no one would have cared about Jessica being a virgin if she were less conventionally attractive) sends a weird and gross message to girls/women. Having said that, of course I agree with what Jessica said as well, I just don't think it really contradicts what Natalie said.

[Ginger]

Jessica Simpson and Britney embodied a very specific millennial marketing ploy. They were sold as dumb, blonde bimbo jailbait who were supposed to tantalize you with their bodies and then primly remind you of their pious virginity. It was pretty gross in many ways.

Jessica was a little more authentic about her purity beliefs and a little less overt about the Lolita-esque seduction act, so I can understand why she may have taken Natalie's remark personally. But I'm totally fine with Natalie calling out the "virgin/vixen paradigm" as a media-created marketing tactic.

ETA: Natalie has given an appropriate apology. The quotes strung together are: "I would never intend to shame anybody and that was absolutely not my intention. I was really talking about mixed media messages out there for young women and completely apologize for any hurt it may have caused because that was definitely not my intention....What I said was I was confused by mixed messages when I was a young girl growing up, and there are a lot of messages for how women should be, and women should be allowed to do whatever they want...It is a mistake to say anyone's name. I could have made my message without naming."

[riosamba]

Dec 5, 2018 19:24:58 GMT -4 luminosa said:

Jessica Simpson- 1
Natalie Portman- 0

This is Natalie's quote-
(I will say she is just telling a story about her thoughts from almost 20 years ago, but still...)

Pop culture leaves its footprints: Portman grew up up ingesting all things Madonna. “I felt really lucky to have her as a little kid, because I saw someone who was brazen and disobedient and provocative and trying to mess with people and always changing – I thought it was a great thing to see in a woman growing up,” she says.

But she also remembers the virgin/vixen paradigms lobbed by the music industry as the millennium neared. “I remember being a teenager, and there was Jessica Simpson on the cover of a magazine saying ‘I’m a virgin’ while wearing a bikini, and I was confused. Like, I don’t know what this is trying to tell me as a woman, as a girl,” she says.

Jessica responds with this-

"As public figures, we both know that our image is not totally in our control at all times, and that the industry we work in often tries to define us and box us in. However, I was taught to be myself and honor the different ways all women express themselves, which is why I believed then—and I believe now—that being sexy in a bikini and being proud of my body are not synonymous with having sex. have always embraced being a role model to all women to let them know that they can look however they want, wear whatever they want and have sex or not have sex with whomever they want. The power lies within us as individuals. I have made it my practice to not shame other women for their choices. In this era of Time’s Up and all the great work you have done for women, I encourage you to do the same."

Not sure if Natalie replied to this yet.

Oh, BURN! I like them both, actually, and now I have another reason for my soft spot for Jessica. I like this statement from her and appreciate the weight of what she's saying in the portion I bolded. I especially like that she's choosing to speak now. She sold a billion dollars with her various lines last year and she could have just decided to stay silent and not risk a customer.

[Mutagen]

I don't think Natalie was wrong. The fixation on Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears' virginity back in those days whilst simultaneously selling them as naughty little sexpots, was some gross creepy bullshit. I'm sympathetic to Jessica if she's pissed at being singled out, but going to the "I choose my choice" defense obscures that Portman's critique wasn't about her individual sexual choices but about the way those choices were commodified and sold to young girls.