The suffering of the women in Bones and Ash or that which Zollar speaks of in Womb Wars is mostly the result of physical and mental ravishment--of rape, abuse, and exploitation--and is often caused by individuals or institutions. The complex relationship of women to traditions upheld by society is another aspect of such suffering. The violation experienced by women in contemporary society, which expects them to retain tradition and then relegates from the zone of desire precisely because of the role they are forced to play, is the theme of Bitter Tongue [video clip].The piece is based on the story of a woman whose husband goes from their native Uganda to Europe and returns having imbibed European culture and practices.

The rejection of the "traditional" or "indigenous" female body as undesirable in terms of a European aesthetic is certainly received with pain. The dancers' bodies react with confusion, performing broken-off movement phrases, jolting into sudden jumps, and halting in mid-sequence [video clip]. It is as if their bodies are splintered by pain (heaving torsos, heavy exhalations), anger (raised fists, stamping feet), and frustration (the dancers forming a circle and repeating the word my from the sentence, "My husband's tongue is bitter").