Think of all the women you know who will not allow themselves to be seen without makeup. I often wonder how they feel about themselves at night when … - bell hooks

"Affirmations work for anyone striving for self-acceptance. Although I had for years been interested in therapeutic modes of healing and self-help, affirmations always seemed to me a bit corny. My sister, who was then working as a therapist in the field of chemical dependency, encouraged me to give affirmations a try to see if I would experience any concrete changes in my outlook. I wrote affirmations relevant to my daily life and began to repeat them in the morning as part of my daily meditations. At the top of my list was the declaration: "I'm breaking with old patterns and moving forward with my life." I not only found them to be a tremendous energy boost — a way to kick off the day by my accentuating the positive — I also found it useful to repeat them during the day if I felt particularly stressed or was falling into the abyss of negative thinking. Affirmations helped restore my emotional equilibrium."

When black people are talked about the focus tends to be on black men; and when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women.

If men were socialized to desire love as much as they are taught to desire sex, we would see a cultural revolution.