Quotes from Virginie Despentes

Women] are not even foreigners but we are constantly subtitled, because we don't know what we have to say. Or at least not as well as the dominant male, who has for centuries been writing books on the question of femininity and its implications.

This is important to point out in a women's magazine, as advice to the readers: OK, so rape is sad, but please don't wail, ladies. It's not dignified. Well, fuck you.

After several years of genuine, sincere, and rigorous research, I have come to the conclusion that femininity is the same thing as bootlicking. The art of servility. You can call it seduction to make it sound glamorous. But it is very rarely a skilled sport. For the majority of women, it's the simple habit of behaving as an inferior.

Waking into a room, checking whether there are men in it, wanting to please them. Not talking to loud. Not being forceful. Not sitting with your legs splayed to be more comfortable. Not speaking with authority. Not talking about money. Not wanting a position of authority. Not seeking glory. Not laughing too loud. Not being too funny. Pleasing men is a complex art, which requires that one should eliminate anything remotely concerned with power.

Being insecure -- now that's femininity. Unassuming. A good listener. Not too intellectually impressive. Just cultured enough to understand what some asshole has to say. Chatting is feminine. Anything that doesn't leave a mark.

Ne pas aimer les femmes, chez un homme, c'est une attitude. Ne pas aimer les hommes, chez une femme, c'est une pathologie.

I am not saying that being a woman is in itself a painful constraint. Some women do it very well. It's the obligation which is degrading. Of course the great seductresses are right up there in terms of reputation. Figure skaters are pretty cool, too -- but no one expects us all to be figure skaters. Horsewomen have their own special charm -- but you don't get given a saddle and bridle the moment you want to exist.

Entre la montre Kitty et le bracelet clouté, elle n'avait pas encore choisi son camp.

Mais elle a le bide troué, et son nuage s'engouffre dedans.

Pretender que los hombres y las mujeres se llevaban mejor antes de los años setenta es una contraverdad histórica. Nos frecuentábamos menos, eso es todo.

cuando afirmamos que la prostitución es una «violencia contra las mujeres» es para que olvidemos que es el matrimonio lo que constituye una violencia contra las mujeres y, de modo general, todo lo que aguantamos.

No querer a las mujeres, cuando se es hombre, es una actitud. No querer a los hombres, cuando se es mujer, es una patología.

Elles arrivent à hauteur de la camionnette. Du coin de l'Å"il, Nadine capte que Manu sourit méchamment. Elle prend sa main dans la sienne, elle a honte de son geste en même temps qu'elle le fait. Sauf que Manu mélange tout de suite ses doigts aux siens, et tient sa paume serrée à en faire péter les articulations. Nouées, crispées l'une dans l'autre. Invincibles, même si elles n'ont pas une seule chance.

Pero, en mi corta experiencia, los clientes estaban llenos de humanidad, de fragilidad, de angustia. Y eso, después, se te queda pegado como un remordimiento.

People who have kids are constantly boring the shit out of people who haven't. But they can't stand it if you tell them the truth – when I look at your life it makes me want to do anything but.

This is always a problem. Someone saying "I'm going to paint a thoroughbred at full gallop", does not mean they can. More often than not, they end up scrawling something that just about looks like a squashed rat.

En realidad, las normas no cambian, siempre se trata de quién se carga al otro primero. Solo que esta vez estuvimos en el buen lado del cañón. La diferencia es considerable.

Le prostitute costituiscono l'unico proletariato la cui condizione commuove tanto la borghesia

La confiscación del cuerpo de las mujeres se produce al mismo tiempo que la confiscación del cuerpo de los hombres. Los únicos que salen ganando en este negocio son los dirigentes.

The collective body functions in the same way as the individual body: if the system is over-anxious, it spontaneously gives rise to self-destructive patterns.

I am writing as an ugly one for the ugly ones: the old hags, the dykes, the frigid, the unfucked, the unfuckables, the neurotics, the psychos, for all those girls who don't get a look in the universal market of the consumerable chick. I'm making no excuses for myself. I'm not complaining. I would never swap places, because it seems to me that being Virginie Despentes is a more interesting business than anything else going on out here.

Les femmes de mon âge sont les premières pour lesquelles il est possible de mener une vie sans sexe, sans passer par la case couvent.

Mais les gens de cette génération avaient été élevés au rythme de la Voix dans la Maison des secrets : un monde dans lequel le téléphone pouvait sonner à n'importe quel moment pour te donner l'ordre de virer la moitié de tes collègues. Eliminer son prochain est la règle d'or de jeux dont on les a gavés au biberon. Comment leur demander, aujourd'hui, de trouver ça morbide? (pages 11-12)

El capitalismo es una religión igualitarista, puesto que nos somete a todos y nos lleva a todos a sentirnos atrapados, como lo están todas las mujeres.