Great thread JT.
I've spent all my life trying to get my power back and I think it was taken away from me at a very early age. It wasn't violently stolen from me, as was the case with Gypsy, but taken nonetheless.
When I was four I attended preschool. Every day a note was sent home to the parents to summarize the child's behavior during the day. They fed us breakfast and lunch and they would give us bad marks if we left any food on our plates. I hate oatmeal, so on the days they served oatmeal I would never eat it. My dad would pick me up from school, read that I was a "bad" girl for not eating my oatmeal, he would yell at me, and then I would get the silent treatment. I vividly remember how it was to ride home in the car, staring out of the passenger window, trying to make myself as invisible as possible.
Wow. That's the first time I really put that into words, but that's exactly what it was. I wanted to be invisible, so he wouldn't have to go out of his way to avoid me.
But you know, even though I knew I'd get in trouble, I never ate the oatmeal. So maybe I still had some of my power at that point....
My dad loved the silent treatment. I got it all the time. During one instance of it I was walking past him in the house and he called me a bitch under his breath. I was probably 14 or 15 at the time. This certainly wasn't the first time he'd said that to me, but for some reason this particular time got me really upset and I started crying. My mom saw me and asked what was wrong and I made the mistake of telling her. She kind of laughed, told me I was too sensitive and to get over it. So I was a bitch and I was too sensitive. Yup, I'd say my power was gone by then....