Look, you do everything in stages, right? I don't think everything happens at once. There are so many layers we are constantly chipping away at, down and down and down, closer and closer to what would be the body. I think what happened with cancer, was that I woke up out of nine hours of surgery and I was body. I was just body.

In the United States, the last recorded clitoridectomy for curing masturbation was performed in 1948--on a five year old girl.

Naming things, breaking through taboos and denial is the most dangerous, terrifying, and crucial work. This has to happen in spite of political climates or coercions, in spite of careers being won or lost, in spite of the fear of being criticized, outcast, or disliked. I believe freedom begins with naming things. Humanity is preserved by it.

Decide whether you want to be liked or admired.

I bet you're worried. I was worried. I was worried about vaginas. I was worried about what we think about vaginas, and even more worried that we don't think about them.

I feel passionate about nurses. I would do anything for nurses. Anything.

I'm feeling a kind of liberty to write about what's interesting to me without worrying about what I should be writing about. And that feels good.