--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: A lot is being said today about the…" description: "\"“A lot is being said today about the influence that the myths and images of women have on all of us who are products of culture. I think it has been a ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/adrienne-rich-803_books_a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-infl_2879595.png" --- # A lot is being said today about the influence that the… ![“A lot is being said today about the influence that the myths and images of women have on all of us who are products of culture. I think it has been a peculiar confusion to the girl or woman who tries to write because she is peculiarly susceptible to language. She goes to poetry or fiction looking…” quote by Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/adrienne-rich-803_books_a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-infl_2879595.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/adrienne-rich-803_books_a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-infl_2879595.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/adrienne-rich-803_books_a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-infl_2879595.png) > ““A lot is being said today about the influence that the myths and images of women have on all of us who are products of culture. I think it has been a peculiar confusion to the girl or woman who tries to write because she is peculiarly susceptible to language. She goes to poetry or fiction looking for her way of being in the world, since she too has been putting words and images together; she is looking eagerly for guides, maps, possibilities; and over and over in the ‘words’ masculine persuasive force’ of literature she comes up against something that negates everything she is about: she meets the image of Woman in books written by men.”” [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Women writers often confront male‑dominated literary traditions that erase or distort female experience, forcing them to seek alternative narratives. **In simple terms:** Female writers face male‑centric literature that marginalizes them. Key Takeaway Seek and create authentic female perspectives. Themes feminism literature identity language gender Mood reflective determined hopeful Type analytical inspirational When to use this quote - academic critique - creative writing workshops - literary analysis - publishing - teaching literature Key Concepts patriarchal narrative female authorship cultural myth creative autonomy self‑definition Questions to Reflect On - How can women reclaim narrative authority? - What strategies help resist patriarchal language? A Different Perspective Male‑centric can can also offer valuable insights when read critically. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Books](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) ## Related quotes > [“Beside the kit she’d put together were several books, and because he was reluctant to open the sealed plastic container and look at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christine-feehan/beside-the-kit-she-d-put-together-were-several-books-and-because-he/) [Christine Feehan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christine-feehan/) > [It's still not easy to find roles that offer more complex images of women.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sarandon/it-s-still-not-easy-to-find-roles-that-offer-more-complex-images-of/) [Susan Sarandon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sarandon/) > [“Women choose to be catty, cruel, prejudiced, competitive or jealous of each other partly because we grow up learning that negative behavior towards women…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/inga-muscio/women-choose-to-be-catty-cruel-prejudiced-competitive-or-jealous-of/) [Inga Muscio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/inga-muscio/) > [It's important to have strong images of women out there, women who aren't afraid of expressing themselves, women who aren't afraid of taking chances,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gina-torres/it-s-important-to-have-strong-images-of-women-out-there-women-who/) [Gina Torres](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gina-torres/) > [It's so important for women to create images of women - or any group, at that.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/petra-collins/it-s-so-important-for-women-to-create-images-of-women-or-any-group-at/) [Petra Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/petra-collins/) > [There are plenty of images of women in science fiction. There are hardly any women.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joanna-russ/there-are-plenty-of-images-of-women-in-science-fiction-there-are/) [Joanna Russ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joanna-russ/) > [A lot of my love of literature comes from Oz and Alice.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-einhorn/a-lot-of-my-love-of-literature-comes-from-oz-and-alice/) Edward Einhorn > [“I think that what influences us in literature comes less from what we love and more from what we happen to pick up in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ann-patchett/i-think-that-what-influences-us-in-literature-comes-less-from-what-we/) [Ann Patchett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ann-patchett/) > [Russian literature, like colonial Canadian literature, comes with a lot of landscape backdrop.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-bringhurst/russian-literature-like-colonial-canadian-literature-comes-with-a-lot/) [Robert Bringhurst](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-bringhurst/) > [“Christian literature comes from Christian novelists and dramatists - not from the bench of bishops getting together and trying to write plays and novels…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-s-lewis-2/christian-literature-comes-from-christian-novelists-and-dramatists/) [C.S. Lewis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/c-s-lewis-2/) > [This is a great mind at work examining itself. This is where literature comes from.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/katharine-weber/this-is-a-great-mind-at-work-examining-itself-this-is-where/) [Katharine Weber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/katharine-weber/) > [When once the itch of literature comes over a man, nothing can cure it but the scratching of a pen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-lover/when-once-the-itch-of-literature-comes-over-a-man-nothing-can-cure-it/) [Samuel Lover](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-lover/) > [All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-hemingway/all-modern-american-literature-comes-from-one-book-by-mark-twain/) [Ernest Hemingway](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-hemingway/) > [“There are only so many people capable of putting together words that stir and move and sing. When it became possible to earn a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/c-m-kornbluth/there-are-only-so-many-people-capable-of-putting-together-words-that/) C.M. Kornbluth > [If you want to be good at anything, you have to work hard at it. It doesn't just fall from the sky. I work…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pj-harvey/if-you-want-to-be-good-at-anything-you-have-to-work-hard-at-it-it/) [PJ Harvey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pj-harvey/) ## More by Adrienne Rich > [Only to have a grief equal to all these tears!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/only-to-have-a-grief-equal-to-all-these-tears/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you...it means that you do not treat your body…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/responsibility-to-yourself-means-refusing-to-let-others-do-your/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The beauty of darkness is how it lets you see.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-beauty-of-darkness-is-how-it-lets-you-see/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [What I search for continuously in my art is adequate language, language I hope can stand beyond any particular occasion. What I'm finding is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/what-i-search-for-continuously-in-my-art-is-adequate-language/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [“Well, she's long about her coming, who must be more merciless to herself than history. Her mind full to the wind, I see her…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/well-she-s-long-about-her-coming-who-must-be-more-merciless-to/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [I think my work comes out of both an intense desire for connection and what it means to feel isolated. There's always going to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/i-think-my-work-comes-out-of-both-an-intense-desire-for-connection/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [Popular culture entered my life as Shirley Temple, who was exactly my age and wrotea letter in the newspapers telling how her mother fixed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/popular-culture-entered-my-life-as-shirley-temple-who-was-exactly-my/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [... in a history of spiritual rupture, a social compact built on fantasy and collective secrets, poetry becomes more necessary than ever: it keeps…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/in-a-history-of-spiritual-rupture-a-social-compact-built-on-fantasy/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [It's as if, in the mother's eyes, her smile, her stroking touch, the child first reads the message:'You are there!'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/it-s-as-if-in-the-mother-s-eyes-her-smile-her-stroking-touch-the/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The women's movement appeared at a very crucial moment in my life. There was a whole political movement asking such questions and others I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-women-s-movement-appeared-at-a-very-crucial-moment-in-my-life/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The word revolution itself has become not only a dead relic of Leftism, but a key to the deadendedness of male politics: the revolution…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-word-revolution-itself-has-become-not-only-a-dead-relic-of/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The decision to feed the world is the real decision. No revolution has chosen it. For that choice requires that women shall be free.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-decision-to-feed-the-world-is-the-real-decision-no-revolution-has/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [The necessity of poetry has to be stated over and over, but only to those who have reason to fear its power, or those…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/the-necessity-of-poetry-has-to-be-stated-over-and-over-but-only-to/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [I think many poets, including myself, write both for the voice and for the page. I certainly write for the person alone in the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/i-think-many-poets-including-myself-write-both-for-the-voice-and-for/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) > [If I cling to circumstances I could feel not responsible. Only she who says she did not choose, is the loser in the end.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/if-i-cling-to-circumstances-i-could-feel-not-responsible-only-she-who/) [Adrienne Rich](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) [Explore all 364 Adrienne Rich quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/) ## More Books quotes > [I think a new world will arise out of the religious mists when we approach our Bible with the idea that it is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aiden-wilson-tozer/i-think-a-new-world-will-arise-out-of-the-religious-mists-when-we/) [Aiden Wilson Tozer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aiden-wilson-tozer/) > [If I had a dollar for every time I couldn’t sleep, I could buy a billion locks and finally read a book in peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aesop-rock/if-i-had-a-dollar-for-every-time-i-couldn-t-sleep-i-could-buy-a/) [Aesop Rock](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aesop-rock/) > [If what I write is literature, I guess you'd better emphasize the 'litter.'](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lydia-lunch/if-what-i-write-is-literature-i-guess-you-d-better-emphasize-the/) [Lydia Lunch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lydia-lunch/) > [My sentences got sharper and my stories more efficient, and I gradually learned to imagine the reader more clearly and to empathize with that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-thompson-walker/my-sentences-got-sharper-and-my-stories-more-efficient-and-i/) [Karen Thompson Walker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-thompson-walker/) > [Young men, especially in America, write to me and ask me to recommend “a course of reading.” Distrust a course of reading! People who…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-lang/young-men-especially-in-america-write-to-me-and-ask-me-to-recommend-a/) [Andrew Lang](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-lang/) > [“Within the pages of books, I've journeyed to Mandalay, the Milky Way and Santa Fe, without once having to leave my armchair.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kevin-ansbro/within-the-pages-of-books-i-ve-journeyed-to-mandalay-the-milky-way/) [Kevin Ansbro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kevin-ansbro/) > [The Rosary is the book of the blind.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fulton-j-sheen/the-rosary-is-the-book-of-the-blind/) [Fulton J. Sheen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fulton-j-sheen/) > [“Tacitus did not write a most dangerous book. His readers made it so.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christopher-k-krebs/tacitus-did-not-write-a-most-dangerous-book-his-readers-made-it-so/) Christopher K. Krebs > [“Take some books and read; that’s an immense help; and books are always good company if you have the right sort.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/louisa-may-alcott/take-some-books-and-read-that-s-an-immense-help-and-books-are-always/) [Louisa May Alcott](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/louisa-may-alcott/) > [Reader, if you are gifted with nerves like mine, aspire to any character but that of a wit.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-lamb/reader-if-you-are-gifted-with-nerves-like-mine-aspire-to-any/) [Charles Lamb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-lamb/) > [I have many who keep me going, I am very fortunate in this sense. There is nothing like a child who knows more about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/floyd-cooper/i-have-many-who-keep-me-going-i-am-very-fortunate-in-this-sense-there/) [Floyd Cooper](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/floyd-cooper/) > [I think books in which people are really happy and things are going well are probably the most challenging novels there are to write,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anna-quindlen/i-think-books-in-which-people-are-really-happy-and-things-are-going/) [Anna Quindlen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anna-quindlen/) > [It's like the query letter problem that I just mentioned, magnified a hundredfold. You might be good at telling a story, but that doesn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-rothfuss/it-s-like-the-query-letter-problem-that-i-just-mentioned-magnified-a/) [Patrick Rothfuss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-rothfuss/) > [“Be careful about reading health books. Some fine day you'll die of a misprint.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/markus-herz/be-careful-about-reading-health-books-some-fine-day-you-ll-die-of-a/) Markus Herz > [But editors are still the world's readers. And thus the eyes of the world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/betsy-lerner/but-editors-are-still-the-world-s-readers-and-thus-the-eyes-of-the/) [Betsy Lerner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/betsy-lerner/) [Browse all 59,485 Books quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/books/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“A lot is being said today about the influence that the myths and images of women have on all of us who are products of culture. I think it has been a peculiar confusion to the girl or woman who tries to write because she is peculiarly susceptible to language. She goes to poetry or fiction looking for her way of being in the world, since she too has been putting words and images together; she is looking eagerly for guides, maps, possibilities; and over and over in the ‘words’ masculine persuasive force’ of literature she comes up against something that negates everything she is about: she meets the image of Woman in books written by men.”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Adrienne Rich" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-influence-that-the-myths-and/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Books" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-influence-that-the-myths-and/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/adrienne-rich-803_books_a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-infl_2879595.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/adrienne-rich-803_books_a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-infl_2879595.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/3a8/adrienne-rich-803_books_a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-infl_2879595.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“A lot is being said today about the influence that the myths and images of women have on all of us who are…” — Adrienne Rich", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Adrienne Rich", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adrienne-rich/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“A lot is being said today...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-influence-that-the-myths-and/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adrienne-rich/a-lot-is-being-said-today-about-the-influence-that-the-myths-and/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```