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About this quote

What does it mean?
Society often shields men from biological realities, treating them as fragile to preserve their ego or comfort.
In plain terms
Men are protected from painful truths about bodies to keep them comfortable.
What can you take from it?
Question protections that prevent people from facing reality.

Where it applies

  • healthcare
  • parenting
  • social norms

Putting it to work

  • normalize biology
  • challenge fragility
  • face reality

Questions to consider

  • Who is protected from reality?
  • Why do we shield people?

Another view

Some people genuinely react strongly to blood.

More from Margaret Atwood

  1. In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.

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  2. Never pray for justice, because you might get some.

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  3. If the national mental illness of the United States is megalomania, that of Canada is paranoid schizophrenia.

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