The power of the harasser, the abuser, the rapist depends above all on the silence of women.

The statement argues that gendered violence and coercion are sustained not only by individual perpetrators but by social conditions that discourage disclosure—fear of retaliation, shame, disbelief, and institutional indifference. “Power” here is portrayed as relational and systemic: abusers rely on victims’ enforced quiet to avoid consequences and to continue harming others. By foregrounding “silence of women,” the line also critiques cultures that normalize harassment and treat women’s testimony as suspect. Implicitly, it frames speaking out and collective solidarity as forms of resistance that can disrupt that power, shifting the burden from private suffering to public accountability.