One of the gifts feminism has given us is the ability to view single women as complete women — and single people of any gender as complete, for that matter. The best feminist quotes about being single remind us that the traditional view of couples as two halves coming together is not the be-all, end-all definition of a relationship; nor is being in such a relationship necessarily a goal to which everyone sould aspire. When we're in relationships, we don't have to play complementary roles according to gender norms. And beyond that, we don't need to be in relationships in the first place — because the idea of an "other half" is itself incomplete. While relationships can add a lot to our lives, we are more than just our relationships; if we choose to have one, a relationship is simply one part of our lives. We are, as the saying goes, much more than the sum of our parts, whether or not one of those parts is a relationship in the first place.
Here are a few feminist quotes about being single that can apply to anyone of any gender, because they're about celebrating who you are without anybody else's approval.
1. “Don't let society fool you into believing that if you don't have a girlfriend or boyfriend then you're destined for a life of misery. The Dalai Lama has been single for the last 80 years and he is one of the happiest people on earth. Stop searching for happiness in places outside of yourself, and start finding it where it has always been: within you.”
—Miya Yamanouchi, author
2. “If you learn to really sit with loneliness and embrace it for the gift that it is… an opportunity to get to know YOU, to learn how strong you really are, to depend on no one but YOU for your happiness… you will realize that a little loneliness goes a LONG way in creating a richer, deeper, more vibrant and colorful YOU.”
—Mandy Hale, author
3. “On the day when it will be possible for woman to love not in her weakness but in her strength, not to escape herself but to find herself, not to abase herself but to assert herself — on that day love will become for her, as for man, a source of life and not of mortal danger.”
— Simone de Beauvoir, philosopher
4. “When we are self-loving, our growing contentment and personal power sustains us when we are rejected or punished for refusing to follow conventional sexist rules."
— bell hooks, writer and feminist theorist
5. “Far too many people are looking for the right person, instead of trying to be the right person.”
—Gloria Steinem, feminist activist
Images: Alex Lozupone (Tduk)/Wikimedia Commons; Giphy
