Perceptions precede analysis just as visions precede action or accomplishments. - Audre Lorde

When patriarchy dismisses us, it encourages our murderers. When feminist theory dismisses us, it encourages its own demise.

I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood. That the speaking profits me, beyond any other effect.

As we learn to bear the intimacy of scrutiny and to flourish within it, as we learn to use the products of that scrutiny for power within our living, those fears which rule our lives and form our silences begin to lose their control over us.