Comparing quotes:

“Yes, my consuming desire is to mingle with road crews, sailors and soldiers, barroom regulars—to be a part of a scene, anonymous, listening, recording—all this is spoiled by the fact that I am a girl, a female always supposedly in danger of assault and battery. My consuming interest in men and their lives is often misconstrued as a desire to seduce them, or as an invitation to intimacy. Yes, God, I want to talk to everybody as deeply as I can. I want to be able to sleep in an open field, to travel west, to walk freely at night…”
—Sylvia Plath

“I think it’s important for gay men to feel that they can hold their heads up high. If that means studying self-defence or working out or doing boxing, if they feel they don’t have to be in fear of walking the streets, it’s a good thing.”
—Kele Okereke

I don’t think women or queer people should have to take such precautions. I also don’t see the idea of physical power as a solution because it’s a huge part of the problem. I understand Plath’s longing; and despite slightly disagreeing with him, I like that Okereke says what he says. Society attempts to define marginalized peoples’ identities for us. It’s important that we define our own identities and demand that these identities be respected, which is what I think Okereke is asserting.