Nothing in the World Like Love?

There’s an epidemic of men responding to conversations about violence and harassment with the phrase, “not all men.” And while that may be true, it misses the deeper reality: it is all women. Every woman carries a story, or knows another woman who does— a story of being followed, touched without consent, manipulated, silenced, or made to feel unsafe by a man. These experiences are not rare exceptions; they are woven into the fabric of womanhood.

Because of this, women are forced to perform constant risk assessments. We scan our surroundings, hold our keys between our fingers, share locations with friends, avoid walking alone at night, rehearse exit plans, and carefully choose what we wear, say, and where we go. These calculations are automatic, learned through experience and passed down like survival instincts. Not because we want to live in fear— but because we have to.

My dance piece is not meant to scare women, nor to villainize men. It exists to validate. To say to women: we see you. We hear you. Your experiences are real, and you are not alone.

Listen when women share their stories— without defensiveness, without interruption, without dismissal. It may not be all men. But it is all women. And until that changes, the conversation must continue.