“At this moment, we have little choice but to recognise that masculine behaviour comprises vanity, irresponsibility, arrogance, and violence of all kinds towards women. This kind of behaviour can hardly lead to coordinated action against women’s oppression. And we must say frankly that such attitudes, which can sink to the level of of sheer stupidity, are in reality nothing but a safety valve for the oppressed male, who, through brutalising his wife, hopes to regain some of the human dignity denied him by the system of exploitation. This masculine foolishness is called sexism or machismo. It includes all kinds of moral and intellectual feebleness—even thinly veiled physical weakness—which often gives politically conscious women no choice but to consider it their duty to wage a war on two fronts.”
—Thomas Sankara