"A lot of people respond to almost any achievement, positive development, or outright victory with "yes but". Naysaying becomes a habit." - Rebecca Solnit

All the worst things that happened to other women because they were women could happen to you because you were a woman. Even if you weren’t killed, something in you was, your sense of freedom, equality, confidence.

You could be erased a little so that there was less of you, less confidence, less freedom, or your rights could be eroded, your body invaded so that it was less and less yours, you could be rubbed out altogether, and none of those possibilities seemed particularly remote. All the worst things that happened to other women because they were women could happen to you because you were a woman. Even if you weren’t killed, something in you was, your sense of freedom, equality, confidence

People have always been good at imagining the end of the world, which is much easier to picture than the strange sidelong paths of change in a world without end.