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About this quote

What does it mean?
The speaker resists being reduced to a symbol, preferring sex over other potentially more negative symbols.
In plain terms
She hates being treated as a symbol but accepts being a sex symbol.
What can you take from it?
Being a symbol strips away your complexity as a person.

Where it applies

  • branding
  • public image
  • personal identity

Putting it to work

  • avoid narrow labels
  • control your narrative

Questions to consider

  • How do you feel about being labeled?
  • Is being a sex symbol better than being a victim symbol?

Another view

Sometimes choosing the 'lesser' symbol is pragmatic for survival.

More from Marilyn Monroe

  1. I restore myself when I'm alone. A career is born in public - talent in privacy.

    Permalink to quote #10
  2. I don't want to make money, I just want to be wonderful.

    Permalink to quote #12
  3. Why? - It paid the rent.

    Permalink to quote #9

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