arianna reardon wright

“Trauma is a toxin that hooks into our hair and organs and blood and becomes part of us, the way heavy metals do, our bodies nothing more than a layering of flesh around everything ingested and experienced.”
― Sophie Mackintosh, The Water Cure

“Part of what made the old world so terrible, so prone to destruction, was a total lack of preparation for the personal energies often called feelings. Mother told us about these kinds of energies. Especially dangerous for women, our bodies already so vulnerable in ways that the bodies of men are not. It was a wonder that there were still safe places, islands like ours where women can be healthful and whole.”
― Sophie Mackintosh, The Water Cure

“Absorbing the guilt and the sorrow is something the world expects of women.”
― Sophie Mackintosh, The Water Cure

“Refrain of the man, universal: This is not my fault!
See also: I absolve myself of responsibility.
And: I never said that. You can't take the actions of my body as words.”
― Sophie Mackintosh, The Water Cure