Miss Behave Quotes

“Society is obsessed with women's bodies and I take my body back by doing whatever it is that I want to do with my body”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“In being everything for everyone, when am I anything for myself?”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“What you allow inside of you will settle there unless you find an effective way to work it out.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“We should, at all times, insist that we belong to ourselves and have the agency to make decisions about our own lives. Our voices, whether loud or soft, matter. Our behaviour, whether seen as 'good' or 'bad', remains our choice.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“In nude protests, the very same body that is objectified and subjected to endless scrutiny and policing is used to reclaim power.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“To misbehave us to denounce the social norms that limit individuals based on who they are. That to make history is to upset patriarchy, a system that is intent on controlling and marginalising others.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“I want to live in a society where we are all liberated. This is what my feminism looks like”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“I want to be in spaces where I can just be: be myself, be all I am, be all I can be, be in my fullness and be in all my strengths, my weaknesses and my being”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“When you disrupt the existing conditions and refuse to accept anything less than what you know you are worth, you start making those who oppress you so uncomfortable that they will try anything to discredit you.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“There is plenty of work that needs to be done by men to dismantle patriarchy”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“Misbehaviour does not require a cape, shades or a bazooka. It is in decisions we make that challenge the notions adopted to keep us well behaved”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“Now that you find yourself here, what are you going to do?”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“It is traumatic to find out that so much of what you have been taught to believe and stand for is actually used to control you”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“On top of dealing with the emotional trauma associated with conscious and unconscious recalling, you must deal with the possibility of no one believing you or making you doubt your experiences. When women speak out about their abusers, they have to deal with the police and society not believing them”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“Through Miss Behave I am attempting to reclaim my voice one word at a time and live my truth to the best of my ability”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“Discrimination can be subtle but it undoubtedly exists in the workplace. Corporate culture can be sexist, classist, racist and ableist, and simply having representation without challenging the roots of the ‘isms’ will not get us very far”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“When you live your truth there will always be a form of resistance as long as patriarchy is allowed to thrive.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“It is traumatic to find out that so much of what you have been taught to believe and stand for is actually used to control you.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“I knew there was something wrong when I couldn't say he or she in my own language.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“i want to live in a society where we are all liberated. this is what my feminism looks like.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“many believe there is a single standard for what a woman should look like, they end up feeling inadequate if they do not conform to that standard”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“although there are many factors that contribute to women's body-image issues, we cannot ignore the role that society plays in the aesthetics of what we represent and how we should be viewed. many believe there is a single standard for what a woman should look like, they end up feeling inadequate if they do not conform to that standard”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“my relationship with myself – existing in my body – has been a complex one. Physically, spiritually, economically and politically, I have had to grapple with reconciling my existence
on this earth. In tracking these complexities, I have noticed that Black women have been prominent in assisting and crafting who I am and how I analyse my environment.”
― malebo sephodi, Miss Behave

“these words are pieces of my life strung together to tell my story. i am flawed. i am problematic. i am learning to unlearn. i’m in need of healing but i tell my story anyway.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“So many stories about the older generation have not been told that we think of them as women with no agency.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“I generally struggle with labels but I acknowledge the importance of owning the word ‘feminism’.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“I know that my fight on this continent is a fight against patriarchy, poverty, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, FGM, rape, HIV/Aids, human and food insecurity, displacement, conflicts and the many atrocities we continue to face. I fight with hope for total liberation. And I know that with this identity, labelling myself as an African feminist, it is not to say that there is a sisterhood that represents and speaks on behalf of all of us. We are not homogenous, but we are connected.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“I am flawed and not perfect and get the theory incorrect because I am still unlearning internalised oppression. I still struggle with deep-seated beliefs about gender norms and have to constantly check myself. I don’t get it right all the time but I am walking in the right direction. I used to be hard on myself because I desperately wanted my feminism to be accepted by other feminists. This is when I learned the importance of the different threads that run through different strands of feminism. Sometimes I don’t feminist up to the standards of others but I continue to identify as an African feminist. It is important that we offer critique among one another though – so we may
continually check our blind spots.”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“I love science, current affairs, engines, bikes,lipsticks, human behaviour”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave

“Each chapter in MissBehave is about navigating life as a black woman and all encounters that led me to espouse feminist ideals”
― Malebo Sephodi, Miss Behave