Wolf's closing was the climax of a speech structured as a 'backlash survival kit' for women graduating into what she described as 'a violent backlash against the advances women have made over the last 20 years.' The fourth and final message in her kit was to 'become goddesses of disobedience.' She had drawn on Audre Lorde, the poet diagnosed with breast cancer who wrote: 'My silences had not protected me. Your silences will not protect you.' Wolf then described her own experience of being attacked for writing 'The Beauty Myth' — cosmetic surgeons yelling at her on TV — and the paralysis of niceness that nearly silenced her. The remedy was incremental courage: 'Next time, ask: What's the worst that will happen? Then push yourself a little further than you dare.' The final passage promised both loss and gain: 'You will lose some friends and lovers, and realize you don't miss them. And new ones will find you and cherish you.'