5 feminist quotes from Patricia Arquette

Actress Patricia Arquette is receiving both praise and criticism for her Oscars speech on Sunday, when she said, ““To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights. It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all and equal rights for women in the United States of America.”

Though some people called it the best moment of the Oscars, Arquette had her detractors, who pointed out that her comments seemed to be “whitewashing” feminism, especially when she said backstage, “It’s time for all the women in America, and all the men that love women and all the gay people and all the people of color that we’ve all fought for to fight for us now.”

Critics accused Arquette of pitting different interest groups against each other – some even said she set feminism back. Activist Erin Matson wrote on Twitter, “Yes, it’s great to call for equal rights for women. No, it’s not cool to pit ‘women’ against people of color and LGBT people (often women!).”

Arquette defender herself on Twitter, writing, “I have long been an advocate for the rights of the #LBGT community. The question is why aren’t you an advocate for equality for ALL women?” and “Wage equality will help ALL women of all races in America. It will also help their children and society.”

Whether or not you agree with Arquette’s sentiment or believe that she marginalized people of color and the LGBTQ community, Arquette has a history of speaking out as a feminist. Here are five recent quotes from Arquette:

1. On playing Olivia in “Boyhood”: “You placed in my hands the part of Olivia, an under-appreciated single mother. Thank you for shining a light on this woman and the millions of women like her, and for allowing me to honor my own mother with this beautiful character.” – Arquette at the 2015 Golden Globes

2. On playing a woman in an abusive relationship in “Boyhood”: “I did have to figure out for myself how I would – because she’s so different fromme – let a man be violent with my kid and not get my kids out of there right away or run over and smack him. To put up the blinders and not do anything is so unlike me. So I did have to talk it through and figure out a way that I could play that that would make sense for myself.” – Arquette in Dazed & Confused

3. On nude photo hacks:“What is deviant is when a community decides that they can break into your sexuality, steal that from you, insert themselves, observe your private sexuality. That society thinks it’s okay [to hack the photos], that it’s their fault – that’s deviant.” – Arquette atThe Hollywood Reporter roundtable

4. On a paparazzo who was harassing her: ” He kept following us. And I said, ‘OK, leave us the f— alone.’ And he goes, ‘Nice, mom! Good job!’ I said, ‘I’m teaching my daughter. If a man is following you and you tell him to go away and he doesn’t, you turn around and say, “F— you!” as loud as you can.’ Because there’s no difference. I don’t care if he has a camera.” – Arquette at The Hollywood Reporter roundtable

5. On raising her daughter: “I see so many mixed messages in the world around her, and my message is always: ‘You’re beautiful, you’re perfect, you’re smart, you’re funny. You’re great and you’ll find the right person for you.’ I’ll still find myself asking her ‘are you wearing that because you like that, or are you wearing that because someone else told you to?’ I think my role models were very different. Celebrityculture is the Kardashians. For me, it was Led Zeppelin, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Deborah Harry – what I considered cool were women who were not playing that game where looks were the be all and end all.” – Arquette in an interview with The Guardian