On Minimization as a Patriarchal Reflex

The Other can’t have feelings so long as I don’t own mine

“A chin strap to prevent a bad bite”, designed by Moritz Schreber. Illustration from: D.G.M. Schreber: Callipedia. Leipzig 1858. Wiki Commons.

(First published in 2017.)

I posted a brief note to Facebook about starting to learn what is painfully obvious to women:

At best, patriarchy can inflict the stress of constant bodily vigilance and at worst: acute terror.