Quotes About Authenticity

The women's movement burst forth when I was fifteen. That was when I began to believe that life might semi-work out after all. The cavalry had arrived. Women were starting to say that you got to tell the truth now, that you had to tell the truth if you were going to heal and have an authentic life.

I wanted pretty pictures of older women - women who are trying too hard but succeeding - pulling off an extreme look. What I didn't know would creep into the portraits was a vulnerability behind the strong facade that most of them wear.

Where I'm at in life, the women have got to come with something else, not just the body, but the mind and spirit. It usually trips them out, but that's the way it's going to be. I'm looking at the big picture.

Powerful women often get concerned with this idea that they're going to be seen in this unforgiving light. Screw that. It's so old-fashioned... It's so uninspired and actually really cowardly.

I think that crying is a way women and men express frustration, anger, or passion. And we should not feel compelled to mute those emotions.

How many shows on TV do you see young black people, both women and men, really embody a full-fledged human being, flaws and all?

I think women are amazing for being able to show what they feel. I admire women who do. I think it's a mistake when women cover their emotions to look tough. I say let's own who we are and use it as a strength.

In our society, women are valued for their sexual attraction. I'd like to get away from the sex symbol idea of what beauty is. Actually, that's probably the farthest thing from beauty, because it's makeup and hair, it's pouty lips - it's not real.

There's so many more themes of drag than just fierceness.

If you want to get to know somebody you don't ask other people: 'How is she?' You talk to the person herself. And then you don't ask about facts like 'date of birth' or 'profession of parents.' but you talk about essential questions and themes in life.

I'm starting to realise that there are certain themes that I return to, those being that there is no such thing as normal, and people finding their voice and living authentically. And also that you can be influenced and helped through an extended family.

It's important for me to talk about my life as a gay man, not gay themes per se, in my work.

I think less is more. Sephora has these nude themes, which is like 'no make-up' make-up.

Be yourself, be an individual - people are scared to be themselves.

I think that the best music and the music that people relate to the most is the honest music that people feel themselves in it.

People are afraid to be themselves because people are afraid to be recorded. Everything is being recorded, and everyone is so sensitive. You say something; a section of people will be offended. It's so annoying; you got to be completely censored.

Women who stay true to themselves are always more interesting and beautiful to me: women like Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe and Anna Magnani - women who have style, chic, allure and elegance. They didn't submit to any standard of beauty - they defined it.

I really believe that in this industry women have to be very true to themselves about what they're comfortable with.

Photography is like a moment, an instant. You need a half-second to get the photo. So it's good to capture people when they are themselves.

Americans want grungy people, stabbing themselves in the head on stage. They get a bright bunch like us, with deodorant on, they don't get it.

Everyone has to decide how they're going to appear in their lives, how they're going to put themselves out there to the world.

And that's what people want to see when they go to the theater. I believe at the end of the day, they want to see themselves - parts of their lives they can recognize. And I feel if I can achieve that, it's pretty spectacular.

I kind of roll my eyes when people say they make music for themselves or they make art just for themselves, because, maybe in their head, what that means is that they're making it for someone who they don't think is real. Their audience isn't real. But it's still a communicative act. It's still an outward manifestation of longing.

However, people need to understand that it ain't that deep to try and convince people of what your persona is. You are who you are, and what you are will show in time. What you aren't can be hidden, but eventually it will come to light. Long story short: rappers should never take themselves too seriously.