"Why can't a woman be more like a man?"
About this Quote
A question like this lands with a sugary hook and a steel blade: it pretends to be puzzled, even reasonable, while smuggling in a hierarchy. Alan Jay Lerner, writing as a dramatist steeped in midcentury Broadway’s polished sexism, frames masculinity as the default setting for adulthood and competence. The line isn’t merely a gripe about behavior; it’s an attempt to make male norms feel like common sense. “More like a man” isn’t descriptive so much as disciplinary.
In context, the phrase is most famously tied to My Fair Lady, where a male mentor figure measures a woman’s worth by her ability to assimilate into a system designed by and for men. Lerner’s brilliance - and the discomfort - is that he wraps control in comedy. The rhetorical move is classic: ask a loaded question that narrows the possible answers. If you argue back, you’re already playing on his turf, forced to defend why femininity should be allowed to exist uncorrected.
The subtext is anxiety. A woman who is loud, unpredictable, or sexually autonomous threatens the neat social choreography the musical depends on: teacher/student, patron/protegee, man as author of a woman’s “improvement.” The line hits because it’s catchy, memeable, and cruelly familiar - the kind of cultural reflex that turns bias into banter. Lerner isn’t only depicting an attitude; he’s showing how easily a society can sing its prejudices, and how charm can launder domination into entertainment.
In context, the phrase is most famously tied to My Fair Lady, where a male mentor figure measures a woman’s worth by her ability to assimilate into a system designed by and for men. Lerner’s brilliance - and the discomfort - is that he wraps control in comedy. The rhetorical move is classic: ask a loaded question that narrows the possible answers. If you argue back, you’re already playing on his turf, forced to defend why femininity should be allowed to exist uncorrected.
The subtext is anxiety. A woman who is loud, unpredictable, or sexually autonomous threatens the neat social choreography the musical depends on: teacher/student, patron/protegee, man as author of a woman’s “improvement.” The line hits because it’s catchy, memeable, and cruelly familiar - the kind of cultural reflex that turns bias into banter. Lerner isn’t only depicting an attitude; he’s showing how easily a society can sing its prejudices, and how charm can launder domination into entertainment.
Quote Details
| Topic | Sarcastic |
|---|---|
| Source | Song "Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?" — lyric by Alan Jay Lerner; music by Frederick Loewe; from the stage musical My Fair Lady (premiered 1956). |
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