Finally, these manifestations are means to muffle or mute. Considered beautiful, full of promise and, is often the case with strong women, “intense,” Sedgwick manages to silence herself by becoming smaller, and though stranger, less focused and so, in the end, less intense.
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I have written elsewhere of how I was told when I was younger that I was “too intense.” Being “too intense” was not meant as a compliment. The way I interpreted this term was that I was like a piece of kryptonite: radioactive.
The solution was obvious: compression. So I became quieter and smaller, mouse-like. And yet this compression only made me feel more and, in turn, be more intense.
Cynthia Cruz discusses anorexia, fashion, language, and so much more in the featured Harriet blog post “Notes Toward a New Language: The Body”
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