12 Quotes by Jessa Crispin

Safety is about control. In order to feel safe, things have to be made predictable. And the only way in life to make something predictable is to control the outcome

[F]eminism has been moving away from being about collective action and collective imagination, and toward being a lifestyle. Lifestyles do not change the world.

I would slay myself on the altar of boredom if given the chance.

We don't do well with infinity and endless possibility, and so we break things down into individual units and into stories. And then we accidentally believe in those stories, and we accidentally start acting them out. Stories about what love is, what happiness is. What men are, what women are. Unable to shape our own stories about the madness that surrounds us, we get infected with other people's stories, trying to ignore the discomfort that comes with an imperfect fit.

It is our entire culture, the way it runs on money, rewards inhumanity, encourages disconnection and isolation, causes great inequality and suffering, that's the enemy. That is the only enemy worth fighting.

If you are surrounded by people who agree with you, you do not have to do much thinking. If you are surrounded by people who identify themselves the same way you do, you do not have to work at constructing a unique identity. If you are surrounded by people who behave the same way you do, you do not have to question your own choices.

There is a temptation when one has suffered to say that one has suffered enough. As in, no more. The temptation is to go about creating a form of protection, to insist that you be kept safe from further harm. “Harm” under these conditions becomes nebulous; anything from threats of violence to reminders of past hurts to even experiencing discomfort can meet the criteria of “harmful.

It is always easier to find your sense of value by demeaning another’s value. It is easier to define yourself as ‘not that,’ rather than do an actual accounting of your own qualities and put them on the scale.

There are advantages to being labeled the victim. You are listened to, paid attention to. Sympathy is bestowed upon you.