“Marriage has existed for the benefit of men; and has been a legally sanctioned method of control over women. . . . We must work to destroy it. . . . The end of the institution or marriage is a necessary condition for the liberation of women. Therefore it is important for us to encourage women to leave their husbands and not to live individually with men. . . . All of history must be rewritten in terms of oppression of women. We must go back to ancient female religions like witchcraft.”
- Nancy Lehmann , 1971.
“If women are to effect a significant amelioration in their condition, it seems obvious that they must refuse to marry. . . . The plight of mothers is more desperate than that of other women, and the more numerous the children the more hopeless the situation seems to be. . . . Most women . . . would shrink at the notion of leaving husband and children, but this is precisely the case in which brutally clear rethinking must be undertaken.”
- Germaine Greer
“Like prostitution, marriage is an institution that is extremely oppressive and dangerous for women.”
- Andrea Dworkin
“If the president is truly concerned about preserving the sanctity of marriage, as one of my readers suggested, why not make divorce illegal and stone adulterers?”
- Maureen Dowd
“The institution of marriage is the chief vehicle for the perpetuation of the oppression of women; it is through the role of wife that the subjugation of women is maintained.”
- Marlene Dixon
“Since marriage constitutes slavery for women, it is clear that the women’s movement must concentrate on attacking this institution. Freedom for women cannot be won without the abolition of marriage.”
- Shelia Cronin
