Emilie

“Sometimes the shame is not the beatings, not the rape.
The shaming is in being asked to stand judgment.”
― Meena Kandasamy, When I Hit You: Or, A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Wife

“The worst part is that I want to turn this into a parable.

I want to echo a rallying cry of inspiration that sings,
Women, we are not alone; Women, these men do not defeat us; Women, these men do not define us; Women, I feel what you feel; Women, we, together, are strong,

and for all the loud voices that said no or that didn’t have the freedom to but who still said 'please stop' or 'not right now' or 'I don’t know' or 'I don’t like that' which are all the same goddamn thing,

to all the women who said no,
you are not to blame for his hard, hungry hands,
whether they came at you like raging fists or whether they gripped your face softly, at first,
smiling at it and inviting you into the night,
only later for you to meet the fingernails and full-weighted back of his hand to keep you there and press you down;

to all the women who said no, you are not to blame;

to all the women who feel ashamed, you are still the goddess and his hungry hands could not defile you more than mortals could defile a god;

to all the women who feel sorry, you did not sin;

to all the women who feel angry, I share your rage;

to all the women who are too tired to feel rage, to all the women who feel empty, who feel blank, who feel Nothing, who feel small, I feel that most of all, too.”
― Alice Minium

“I lost a great innocence when I understood that I and my mind were not going to be on good terms for the rest of my life. I can’t tell you how tired I am of character-building experiences. But I treasure this part of me; whoever loves me loves me with this in it.”
― Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

“Alone with thoughts of what should have long been forgotten, I let myself be carried away into the silent screams of delirium.”
― Amanda Steele, The Cliff