Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman

Sometimes people on the defensive rebound into compassion. Sometimes smart, good people are just a little behind.

I used to hate myself; eventually, I didn’t anymore. I used to be shy; eventually, I made my living by talking too much.

“This fetishization of not censoring yourself, of being an ‘equal-opportunity offender,’ is bizarre and bad for comedy. When did ‘not censoring yourself’ become a good thing? We censor ourselves all the time, because we are not entitled, sociopathic fucks…

The real scam is that being bones isn’t enough either. The game is rigged. There is no perfection.

Denying people access to value is an incredibly insidious form of emotional violence, one that our culture wields aggressively and liberally to keep marginalized groups small and quiet.

it was just part of the lifelong, pervasive alienation from my body that every woman absorbs to some extent. Your body is never yours. Your body is your enemy. Your body is gross. Your body is wrong. Your body is broken. Your body isn’t what men like. Your body is less important than a fetus. Your body should be “perfect” or it should be hidden.

she taught me to cope with pain by chopping it up into bits small enough to laugh at.

There is nothing novel or comedic or righteous about men using the threat of sexual violence to control noncompliant women. This is how society has always functioned. Stay indoors, women. Stay safe. Stay quiet. Stay in the kitchen. Stay pregnant. Stay out of the world. If you want to talk about silencing, censorship, placing limits and consequences

a certain light, feminism is just the long, slow realization that the stuff you love hates you.)