If you're a woman, it's almost impossible to establish a

When Marina Abramovi? laments, “If you’re a woman, it’s almost impossible to establish a relationship. You’re too much for everybody. It’s too much. The woman always has to play this role of being fragile and dependent. And if you’re not, they’re fascinated by you, but only for a little while. And then they want to change you and crush you. And then they leave,” she speaks from the crucible of life and art. Her words echo like the voice of an oracle, revealing the ancient burden placed upon the daughters of Eve, who have long been told to bend and break in order to be loved.

The origin of her reflection springs from the artist’s own encounters with love, power, and abandonment. Abramovi?, whose life has been an offering upon the altar of performance, has seen how strength in a woman can both inspire awe and provoke fear. To be “too much” is to embody the fullness of fire, intellect, and will — qualities celebrated in myth, yet punished in the chambers of ordinary life. Thus, her words unveil the paradox: society worships the strong woman in image, yet rejects her in intimacy.

The roles of fragile and dependent have been chains passed down through centuries, gilded by custom yet forged in oppression. Many men, and many cultures, have demanded that the woman dim her light so that they may shine brighter. When she refuses, when she dares to be whole, she becomes both treasure and threat. Abramovi? exposes this cycle: first fascination, then the urge to dominate, then destruction, and at last, abandonment.

Her lament is not merely personal but universal, a testimony etched into the scroll of human history. It is a warning to future generations that love cannot be true when it demands diminishment. For a relationship must be a union of equals, not the crushing of one spirit by another. To seek to change or break the beloved is to wound not only her, but the very fabric of love itself.

Let the wise remember: the woman who carries her own power is not “too much” — she is the measure of wholeness. Those who cannot embrace her strength are unready for the sacred dance of true union. Abramovi?’s words are a beacon, teaching that the soul of a woman must never be lessened for the comfort of another, lest both perish in the shadow of false love.