If rape is the most pointed expression of power and authority, the power structure of the patriarchy rests on the suppression of women: It relies on the patrolling of our purity, the controlling of our procreation, and the threat and success of sexual violence. It’s been this way for five millennia and continues to delimit our lives today. This alternately repressed and forced sexuality is the bedrock of our society—and with it comes the belief that men own women’s reproductive capacity.
