Bria Vinaite Quotes

The idea that the more you hide something, the more it becomes something that's supposed to feel shameful is very true.

Shame derives its power from being unspeakable.

The menopause is probably the least glamorous topic imaginable; and this is interesting, because it is one of the very few topics to which cling some shreds and remnants of taboo. A serious mention of menopause is usually met with uneasy silence; a sneering reference to it is usually met with relieved sniggers. Both the silence and the sniggering are pretty sure indications of taboo.

I don't want to say anything because I know I am unable to protect you from the harm that I see.

The whole idea that what is not normal should be kept secret - that's really distasteful to me.

Isn't privacy about keeping taboos in their place?

Nothing is burdensome as a secret.

One of the things that free people do is engage in conspiracies of silence about problems that do not seem solvable.

I was terrified about people knowing I was gay. I'd cringe inside at the idea that they'd be talking behind my back.

Nobody in the society will talk about menstruation... it's a taboo in my country. That's why I'm branded by society as a psycho.

I spent 24 years in the closet wanting to talk so desperately about who I was and what I am but too afraid to.

We need space to discuss unspoken, uncomfortable dark truths.

A problem shared is a problem halved, but as with so many problems affecting women - periods, menopause, post-natal depression - we often feel embarrassed, as if we're moaning or just plain wrong to air them.

A lot of people are afraid of the idea of enslavement, and that's because it's tied to so much shame and guilt... That is the big elephant in the room, but a part of why we're afraid to attack that subject matter is because of the way we've been taught about it.

He never said "Don't tell your mama." He never had to say it. I did not know how to tell anyone what I felt, what scared me and shamed me... (109)

Craziness was considered funny, like all other things that were in reality frightening and profoundly shameful.

I was ashamed to let anyone know that I was living in a shelter. I remember one time coming home and some kids saw me and were like, "What you doing here? This is a shelter!" But I was like, "My mom's working there." It was pretty embarrassing.

I can see us, living in the woods, her wearing that A, me with a S maybe, S for silent, S for stupid, for scared. S for silly. For shame.

Suicide. A sideways word, a word that people whisper and mutter and cough: a word that must be squeezed out behind cupped palms or murmured behind closed doors. It was only in dreams that I heard the word shouted, screamed.

The only thing you must never speak of is your happiness.

I have a daughter from a relationship I had in my late teens or early 20s. Because I felt it wasn't the kind of pukka behaviour my family or relatives would admit to, I denied it for many years.

There are some things that you see that are hard to talk about. You can't talk about it. You just bear witness to them.

Why are we so terrified of a natural process that allows for life to be brought into this world? Why do we scramble to hide our tampons when we pull them out of our purses?

I had bedbugs in 2005. I felt like a leper. Worse than a leper. At least lepers had a colony they could go and live in with other people who empathized. I instead had friends stand up from tables and walk out of restaurants when I told them I had bedbugs, because they were afraid I'd transfer the bugs to them.

Many feel the need to hide their problems from their school friends, work colleagues and even members of their own family.