"I've always loved men"
About this Quote
For an actress who came of age in the late-60s/70s star system, "I've always loved men" lands less like a confession than a camera-ready refusal to be cornered. Jacqueline Bisset isn’t staking out a hot take; she’s staking out a line of control. The phrasing is simple, almost disarmingly old-fashioned: not "dated", not "hooked up with", not even "been attracted to". "Loved" makes it sound innate, lifelong, and, crucially, non-negotiable.
The intent reads as both personal and tactical. Bisset spent decades being discussed as an object before she was treated as an author of her own narrative. A direct statement like this flips the power dynamic: it’s declarative, not defensive. It also performs a kind of damage control against the celebrity machine’s favorite sport - assigning women a "type", an orientation, a scandal, a storyline. By offering a clear, emotionally framed preference, she closes off the tabloidy guessing game while sounding warm rather than combative.
The subtext is generational: an era when women were expected to be legible to the public, but only in ways that didn’t threaten male comfort. "I've always" signals continuity, tradition, and steadiness - a reassurance coded for an audience primed to treat ambiguity as provocation. At the same time, it’s quietly expansive. "Men" here can mean lovers, friends, colleagues, the whole messy ecosystem of intimacy and alliance that a working actress navigates. It’s a sentence that reads like romance but also like survival: choosing affection as a public language in a culture that profits from tearing women apart.
The intent reads as both personal and tactical. Bisset spent decades being discussed as an object before she was treated as an author of her own narrative. A direct statement like this flips the power dynamic: it’s declarative, not defensive. It also performs a kind of damage control against the celebrity machine’s favorite sport - assigning women a "type", an orientation, a scandal, a storyline. By offering a clear, emotionally framed preference, she closes off the tabloidy guessing game while sounding warm rather than combative.
The subtext is generational: an era when women were expected to be legible to the public, but only in ways that didn’t threaten male comfort. "I've always" signals continuity, tradition, and steadiness - a reassurance coded for an audience primed to treat ambiguity as provocation. At the same time, it’s quietly expansive. "Men" here can mean lovers, friends, colleagues, the whole messy ecosystem of intimacy and alliance that a working actress navigates. It’s a sentence that reads like romance but also like survival: choosing affection as a public language in a culture that profits from tearing women apart.
Quote Details
| Topic | Love |
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