victoria woodhull

Victoria Woodhull, the woman who spoke out and fought for the freedom to love whoever we wish outside the bonds of marriage.

Even under threat of condemnation, she went on fighting. She fought for the right to true love, to break free of the oppression to love under servitude. This is not to say that marriage is "bad" but under circumstances of extreme oppression, marital love is difficult. This is not the fault of individuals; although, in a society free from oppression, all would be able to take responsibility. Marriage under oppressive circumstances is a societal problem since our society is not set up to take care of its people.

It is set up to make profit off the backs of the poor, "wretched", and "wicked," condemned by society as "weak": its women, its communists, its blacks, its Mexicans, its queers and whores. I am here to say that I stand with those people, and I will fight for their rights until I die. Even those who stand with the rich, the 1%, are not who we are “fighting”. We are fighting a *system* that holds us under control, docile, never allowed to speak the truth of our lives and experiences without some sort of backlash.

We are under threat of violence for speaking our truth. Speak your truth and don't give up on it. Yes, it is hard at times and is risky business, and you have every right to retreat, to separate, to process. But you will find that nothing else opens up your mind, body and soul than to speak one's truth. So wear your badges of honor (and horror) held high above the self, one that can enter the other, penetrating the depths of another's being: in sex and love.