A Map of Silence, and the Spaces Between

Abstract

If the men whose careers our work sustained abused or exploited us, we kept quiet, to spare their reputations, to spare our reputations, to avoid creating “drama,” to avoid making “the movement” more vulnerable than it already was. And so, we disappeared, and watched as new women emerged in our place, eyes alight and ready to pick up where we had left off, and we whispered to one-another how we were worried for them, but still, we kept silent. Here is the paradox: If you speak up, everyone else will exile you. If you keep quiet, you have no choice but to exile yourself.