There is no "beginning" of feminism in the sense that there is no beginning to defiance in women.

The oppressed without hope are mysteriously quiet. When the conception of change is beyond the limits of the possible, there are no words to articulate discontent so it is sometimes held not to exist. This mistaken belief arises because we can only grasp silence in the moment in which it is breaking.

When a man curls his lip, when he uses ridicule, when he grows angry, you have touched a raw nerve in domination.

Language conveys a certain power. It is one of the instruments of domination. It is carefully guarded by the superior people because it is one of the means through which they conserve their supremacy.

There is no "beginning" of feminism in the sense that there is no beginning to defiance in women.

Innocence is impossible when people have never had the choice of becoming corrupt by dominating others.

Values linger on after the social structures which conceived them.