She thought about how it was to have been a woman in the prime of life, with children and a man, and then to lose all that, becoming old and a widow,… - Ursula K. Le Guin

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She thought about how it was to have been a woman in the prime of life, with children and a man, and then to lose all that, becoming old and a widow, powerless. But even so she did not feel she understood his shame, his agony of humiliation. Perhaps only a man could feel so. A woman got used to shame.