It is absurd that every day women have to contend with the possibility that they will be attacked verbally or physically. When women leave their homes, they consider the possibility, however remote, of being mutilated, terrorized, or killed for not acceding to the demands of aggressive men. As women, we can lose our dignity and any sense of safety or feelings of rights to public space that we might have—all on someone else’s whim. This is how we come to accept the harsh fact of our violability. We bite our tongues, sometimes until they bleed.
