---
title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Women without men, I realized then, are…"
description: "\"“Women without men, I realized then, are totally different creatures.”\" — Shashi Deshpande"
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/shashi-deshpande-34774_creatures_women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-to_2074245.png"
---

#  Women without men, I realized then, are totally different…

![“Women without men, I realized then, are totally different creatures.” quote by Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/shashi-deshpande-34774_creatures_women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-to_2074245.png)   [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/shashi-deshpande-34774_creatures_women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-to_2074245.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/shashi-deshpande-34774_creatures_women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-to_2074245.png)

> ““Women without men, I realized then, are totally different creatures.””

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

## About This Quote

This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.

Women’s experiences differ fundamentally when men are absent.

**In simple terms:** Women change without men.

Key Takeaway

Recognize gender‑specific experiences.

Themes

gender relationships society identity

Mood

analytical empathetic critical

Type

social gender

When to use this quote

- single motherhood
- women’s shelters
- community dynamics

Key Concepts

feminist theory social roles

Questions to Reflect On

- How do men’s absence reshape social structures?
- What support helps women thrive alone?

A Different Perspective

May overgeneralize women’s experiences.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★   No ratings yet

[Creatures](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/) [Different](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/different/) [Feminism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/feminism/) [Men and women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men-and-women/) [Totally Different](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/totally-different/) [Women](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/women/) [Women Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/women-men/)

## Related quotes

> [For me, men and women are different. A man is genetically gifted to pull more than a woman. But at the same time, I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kajol/for-me-men-and-women-are-different-a-man-is-genetically-gifted-to/)

[Kajol](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kajol/)

> [People are capable of great, great change during the span of one lifetime. And women even more than men.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabrielle-zevin/people-are-capable-of-great-great-change-during-the-span-of-one/)

[Gabrielle Zevin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gabrielle-zevin/)

> [Well, if you look at the programme that we're offering, I think that is a future which is fair for women as well as…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harriet-harman/well-if-you-look-at-the-programme-that-we-re-offering-i-think-that-is/)

[Harriet Harman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harriet-harman/)

> [The hardest thing about being a guy is that women don't accept that you really are just a simple, pathetic, labrador retriever-like creature. That…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dave-barry/the-hardest-thing-about-being-a-guy-is-that-women-don-t-accept-that/)

[Dave Barry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dave-barry/)

> [Behind every great man there was a woman but behind every women there were men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/juju/behind-every-great-man-there-was-a-woman-but-behind-every-women-there/)

[Juju](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/juju/)

> [Men are men and women are women, but the men are dumber than the women, usually.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-malkmus/men-are-men-and-women-are-women-but-the-men-are-dumber-than-the-women/)

[Stephen Malkmus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-malkmus/)

> [Our culture hasn't stopped objectifying women. We - men and women both - are just getting better at pretending it's not happening.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bari-weiss/our-culture-hasn-t-stopped-objectifying-women-we-men-and-women-both/)

[Bari Weiss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bari-weiss/)

> [After years of research, I discovered 25 differences in the work-life choices of men and women. All 25 lead to men earning more money,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/warren-farrell/after-years-of-research-i-discovered-25-differences-in-the-work-life/)

[Warren Farrell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/warren-farrell/)

> [Men and women study things differently, and it's not because of our chromosomes. It's a product of our cultural conditioning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hope-jahren/men-and-women-study-things-differently-and-it-s-not-because-of-our/)

[Hope Jahren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hope-jahren/)

> [Have you not heard it said full oft, A woman's nay doth stand for naught?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-shakespeare/have-you-not-heard-it-said-full-oft-a-woman-s-nay-doth-stand-for/)

[William Shakespeare](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-shakespeare/)

> [The problem with most women is that they give their all to a guy who isn't even willing to give her half of his.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ryaj-ablando-catayas/the-problem-with-most-women-is-that-they-give-their-all-to-a-guy-who/)

[Ryaj Ablando Catayas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ryaj-ablando-catayas/)

> [In 'A Boy's Own Story' and 'Jack Holmes and His Friend,' my idea was to take someone totally different from my real self and,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edmund-white/in-a-boy-s-own-story-and-jack-holmes-and-his-friend-my-idea-was-to/)

[Edmund White](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edmund-white/)

> [LMS is like PMS but totally different.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/lms-is-like-pms-but-totally-different/)

[Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/)

> [I had a totally different upbringing, totally different background, raised in Germany, small town, now I am in London taking care of 180 kids…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/per-mertesacker/i-had-a-totally-different-upbringing-totally-different-background/)

[Per Mertesacker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/per-mertesacker/)

> [Nashville was totally different than I ever dreamed. I had only seen the music business on television and been to a couple of concerts.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/faith-hill/nashville-was-totally-different-than-i-ever-dreamed-i-had-only-seen/)

[Faith Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/faith-hill/)

## More by Shashi Deshpande

> [“I know that safety is always unattainable. You're never safe.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/i-know-that-safety-is-always-unattainable-you-re-never-safe/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [“Was’ and ‘is’ – in English there is very little difference between these two words. Only one letter more , just two letters different.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/was-and-is-in-english-there-is-very-little-difference-between-these/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [I don't like to call myself a feminist writer. I say I'm a feminist, but I don't write to propagate an ism,](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/i-don-t-like-to-call-myself-a-feminist-writer-i-say-i-m-a-feminist/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [Marriage is a very strange thing. It’s a very public institution, it’s meant to tell the world that two people are going to live…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/marriage-is-a-very-strange-thing-it-s-a-very-public-institution-it-s/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [It's not just that life is cruel, but that in the very process of our birth we submit to life's cruelty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/it-s-not-just-that-life-is-cruel-but-that-in-the-very-process-of-our/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [“To overcome your fear of death, you have to move from ‘the world ends with me’ to ‘the world goes on without me’. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/to-overcome-your-fear-of-death-you-have-to-move-from-the-world-ends/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [“A woman can never be angry; she can only be neurotic, hysterical, frustrated.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/a-woman-can-never-be-angry-she-can-only-be-neurotic-hysterical/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [“Surely there comes a moment in every human's life when he or she says, like the Sibyl - I wish to die.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/surely-there-comes-a-moment-in-every-human-s-life-when-he-or-she-says/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [Things can never be as they were. It's astonishing how we comment on change, as if change is something remarkable. On the contrary, not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/things-can-never-be-as-they-were-it-s-astonishing-how-we-comment-on/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [A wife should always be few feet behind her husband. If he is an MA you should be a BA.If he is 5'4'tall you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/a-wife-should-always-be-few-feet-behind-her-husband-if-he-is-an-ma/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [. . . a friend . . . showed me the kitchen in her new home with the words, "This is my office." I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/a-friend-showed-me-the-kitchen-in-her-new-home-with-the-words-this-is/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [“I have often watched in fascination the leaps and bounds of her mind as, starting from the banks of uncomfortable facts, she reaches the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/i-have-often-watched-in-fascination-the-leaps-and-bounds-of-her-mind/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

> [Self-revelation is a cruel process. The real picture, the real you never emerges. Looking for it is as bewildering as trying to know how…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/self-revelation-is-a-cruel-process-the-real-picture-the-real-you/)

[Shashi Deshpande](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

[Explore all 14 Shashi Deshpande quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/)

## More Creatures quotes

> [I was 3-years-old - to this day it is a vivid memory. My family and I were on a boat, catching fish. As one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joaquin-phoenix/i-was-3-years-old-to-this-day-it-is-a-vivid-memory-my-family-and-i/)

[Joaquin Phoenix](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joaquin-phoenix/)

> [Almost everywhere we find . . . the use of various coercive measures, to rid ourselves as quickly as possible of the child withinus--i.e.,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alice-miller/almost-everywhere-we-find-the-use-of-various-coercive-measures-to-rid/)

[Alice Miller](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alice-miller/)

> [We need, in a special way, to work twice as hard to help people understand that animals are fellow creatures, that we must protect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cesar-chavez/we-need-in-a-special-way-to-work-twice-as-hard-to-help-people/)

[Cesar Chavez](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cesar-chavez/)

> [Perhaps no order of mammals presents us with so extraordinary a series of gradations as this \[step by step, from humans to apes to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-huxley/perhaps-no-order-of-mammals-presents-us-with-so-extraordinary-a/)

[Thomas Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-huxley/)

> [I could not have slept tonight if I had left that helpless little creature to perish on the ground.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/i-could-not-have-slept-tonight-if-i-had-left-that-helpless-little/)

[Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/)

> [No creature can attain a higher grade of nature without ceasing to exist.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ananda-coomaraswamy/no-creature-can-attain-a-higher-grade-of-nature-without-ceasing-to/)

[Ananda Coomaraswamy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ananda-coomaraswamy/)

> [Most people are sensitized to animals through their cats and dogs, but for me it was a flounder. I used to go fishing with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-mathews/most-people-are-sensitized-to-animals-through-their-cats-and-dogs-but/)

[Dan Mathews](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-mathews/)

> [...it was a huge creature, luminous, ghastly, and spectral. I have cross-examined these men, one of them a hard-headed countryman, one a farrier, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-conan-doyle/it-was-a-huge-creature-luminous-ghastly-and-spectral-i-have-cross/)

[Arthur Conan Doyle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-conan-doyle/)

> [How do we know that we have a right to kill creatures that we are so little above, as dogs, for our curiosity or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alexander-pope/how-do-we-know-that-we-have-a-right-to-kill-creatures-that-we-are-so/)

[Alexander Pope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alexander-pope/)

> [My dad's family were political and he was always a theatrical creature, whereas my mum is really musical and her father was the touring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/grace-jones/my-dad-s-family-were-political-and-he-was-always-a-theatrical/)

[Grace Jones](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/grace-jones/)

> [We are somehow the children of the planet, we are somehow its finest hour; we bind time, we bind the past, we anticipate the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terence-mckenna/we-are-somehow-the-children-of-the-planet-we-are-somehow-its-finest/)

[Terence McKenna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terence-mckenna/)

> [What greater weakness can there be than not to know what is the source of one's being, of one's life, of one's senses, of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-de-la-bruyere/what-greater-weakness-can-there-be-than-not-to-know-what-is-the/)

[Jean de la Bruyere](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-de-la-bruyere/)

> [The love for all living creatures is the most noble attribute of man.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/the-love-for-all-living-creatures-is-the-most-noble-attribute-of-man/)

[Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/)

> [Children are not a zoo of entertainingly exotic creatures, but an array of mirrors in which the human predicament leaps out at us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-updike/children-are-not-a-zoo-of-entertainingly-exotic-creatures-but-an/)

[John Updike](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-updike/)

> [When I was in my teens I had a series of intensely religious experiences. They deepened my sense of God as the creator of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andrew-linzey/when-i-was-in-my-teens-i-had-a-series-of-intensely-religious/)

[Andrew Linzey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andrew-linzey/)

[Browse all 3,703 Creatures quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/creatures/)

```json
{
    "@context": "https://schema.org",
    "@graph": [
        {
            "@type": "Quotation",
            "text": "“Women without men, I realized then, are totally different creatures.”",
            "creator": {
                "@type": "Person",
                "name": "Shashi Deshpande"
            },
            "isPartOf": {
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website"
            },
            "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-totally-different-creatures/",
            "about": {
                "@type": "Thing",
                "name": "Creatures"
            },
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-totally-different-creatures/#quotation",
            "image": {
                "@type": "ImageObject",
                "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/shashi-deshpande-34774_creatures_women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-to_2074245.png",
                "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/shashi-deshpande-34774_creatures_women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-to_2074245.png",
                "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/270/shashi-deshpande-34774_creatures_women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-to_2074245.png",
                "width": 1080,
                "height": 1080,
                "caption": "“Women without men, I realized then, are totally different creatures.” — Shashi Deshpande",
                "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": "Shashi Deshpande",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/shashi-deshpande/"
                },
                {
                    "@type": "ListItem",
                    "position": 4,
                    "name": "“Women without men, I realized then,...",
                    "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-totally-different-creatures/"
                }
            ],
            "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/shashi-deshpande/women-without-men-i-realized-then-are-totally-different-creatures/#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
            }
        }
    ]
}
```
