None of us has the right to stand still

“None of us has the right to stand still…Everything that didn't happen to you--I apply this to myself as part of the way that I survive--everything that didn't happen to you is a little slack in your leash. You weren't raped when you were three, or you weren't raped when you were 10. Or you weren't battered, or you weren't in prostitution, whatever it is that you managed to miss is the measure of your freedom. And the measure of your strength. And what you owe to other women. I'm not asking you to be martyrs. I'm not asking you to give up your lives. I'm asking you to live your lives, honorably and with dignity.

I'm asking you to fight.

I'm asking you to do things for women that women do all the time in political struggle for men. Right? Women put our bodies on the line in political struggles in which both sexes are involved. But we do not do it for women. I'm not asking you to get caught. I'm asking you to escape. I'm asking you to run for your life. If you need to run through a brick wall, run through it. If you get some bruises on your arms, it's better than having him give the bruises to you because you were standing still. None of us has the right to stand still."

~Andrea Dworkin

Painting by Elisabeth Slettnes