“Properly speaking, altruism is an absurdity. Women are self-sacrificing in direct proportion to their incapacity to offer anything but this sacrifice. They sacrifice what they never had: a self. The cry of the deserted woman, 'What have I done to deserve this?' reveals at once the false emotional economy that she has been following.”

Australian writer and public intellectual

Germaine Greer is an Australian writer and public intellectual, active in the latter half of the 20th century. She is regarded as one of the major voices of second-wave feminism. Her work helped shape feminist debate and made her a prominent commentator on culture and society. She is known for writing with force and clarity on questions of gender, power, and public life.