Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman

Women, it seemed, were obliged to be thick-skinned about their own rapes, while comics remained too thin-skinned to handle even mild criticism.

It steers humanity toward conservatism and walls and the narrow interests of men, and it keeps us adrift in waters where women’s safety and humanity are secondary to men’s pleasure and convenience.

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

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

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.

I insisted that shoes and accessories were just “my thing,” because my friends didn’t realize that I couldn’t shop for clothes at a regular store and I was too mortified to explain it to them.

Mother or monster. Okay, little girl—choose.

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