To attach together
To cut away
There is something deeply institutional about "clip".
To clip = to fasten, to attach, to hold things together. To clip = to cut, to trim, to remove parts deemed excessive.
Hair clips. Clipboard clips. Film clips. Bureaucracy survives by clipping reality into manageable, acceptable excerpts. Women are clipped — our voices, our rage, our ambitions — until we fit the frame.
The word reveals how institutions maintain control: they attach us to systems while simultaneously cutting away whatever doesn't serve them. The violence is quiet, procedural, and endlessly repeated.