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About this quote

What does it mean?
Defining a woman solely by her relationship to a man misrepresents her true identity.
In plain terms
A woman is more than her connection to a man.
What can you take from it?
Avoid judging women only through their relationships.

Where it applies

  • social judgment
  • media portrayal
  • interpersonal dynamics

Putting it to work

  • recognize individual merit
  • challenge stereotypes
  • respect autonomy

Questions to consider

  • How do we define people beyond relationships?
  • Why do we reduce women to partners?

Another view

Some argue relationships are central to identity, not just one aspect.

More from Henry Adams

  1. Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the systematic organization of hatreds.

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  2. The work of internal government has become the task of controlling the thousands of fifth-rate men.

    Permalink to quote #45
  3. Philosophy: unintelligible answers to insoluble problems.

    Permalink to quote #42

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