Lorde identifies this answer as an excuse—the same excuse that causes such women to be excluded from a variety of political and artistic circles.
Moreover, she says, the excuse is hardly a truthful one. White feminists have educated themselves on many topics in recent years, she writes, and surely could educate themselves on race, class, and sexuality.
Lorde identifies a parallel between men who ask women, distractingly, to educate them about their needs, and white women who occupy Black women's time and energy by asking these Black feminists to educate them about issues they could easily learn on their own. Lorde ends with a plea to her academic feminist peers to examine their own fear of difference in order to overcome it, for the benefit of themselves and feminism as a whole.
This essay, though short, is one of Lorde's most famous works. Her central metaphor of "the master's house" as a seat of power is relayed through the memorable phrase "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house. The language of Lorde's primary extended metaphor is, not coincidentally, reminiscent of the history of American slavery.
Though Lorde speaks about the exclusion of lesbians and nonwhite women, in general, from mainstream feminism, her metaphor emphasizes the particular exclusion of Black women. Moreover, the metaphor evokes the distinctive stereotypes of femininity used to justify chattel slavery in the American South. While Black women were rhetorically excluded from notions of femininity in order to justify economic exploitation, Southern white women—especially upper-class ones—were celebrated for their imagined purity and helplessness.
Thus, white women themselves became both beneficiaries of slavery and justification for its existence. Lorde's metaphor implicitly nods to this history and asks white women, along with rich ones and heterosexual ones, to actively renounce this semi-privileged, semi-oppressed status. In an oeuvre that generally opts for nuance, this essay leaves little room for ambiguity. Tonally, Lorde gives the impression of having reached the end of her patience. Perhaps her choice to use this brusque tone comes from knowing her audience: academic feminists.
Lorde expresses frustration with feminist academics' timidity, recalling occasions on which such women disguised their own willful ignorance as tact or helplessness. Here, she leaves little room for such excuse-making, taking a straightforward and unflinching attitude. Lorde's impatience with these excuses is interesting and fitting, since she is critiquing a version of femininity used both by and against white women.
This was my first time reading Audre Lorde, and this collection of excerpts from different essays is a perfect glimpse to her writing world, with each sentence sharp, insightful and thought provoking. Recommended to those who wants to read about feminism, anti racist politics and intersectionality. This is a collection of five essays by Audre Lorde. All of the essays were powerful, but my favorite was "Learning from the s. Aug 07, Milena. Reads rated it it was amazing.
Aug 14, Dylan rated it it was amazing. May 03, sari rated it really liked it. Not an easy read for me but I loved it. Aug 21, Kirsty rated it really liked it Shelves: received-as-gifts , august This collection of 'soaring, urgent essays on the power of women, poetry and anger' was my first taste of Audre Lorde's writing. The majority of the essays collected here were first given as conference papers between and Throughout, Lorde writes with confidence and in This collection of 'soaring, urgent essays on the power of women, poetry and anger' was my first taste of Audre Lorde's writing.
Throughout, Lorde writes with confidence and intelligence. The 23rd Penguin Modern is an accessible book, which explores feminism and the issues which it poses for minority women, and those whose identify as anything other than heterosexual. Lorde weaves in elements of black history and lesbianism.
Each of these essays is thought-provoking, and I would definitely like to read more of her work in the near future. View 1 comment. Dec 28, Naia Pard rated it it was amazing Shelves: non-fiction , essay. A couple of essays that are worth while. They are concentrated on subjects concerning feminism and racism. Perhaps this description of mine niches them too much. She points the cracks in the society not to wedge them into valleys, but to invite the readers into finding a solution that goes to mend them.
Her call to unity is polished by the assurance th A couple of essays that are worth while. Jul 06, Marie S. Classic case of "It's not you, it's me". I couldn't get into the essays, I felt that there were too many ideas and no clear point so I was lost most of the time. Interesting short collection of essays that makes a very good introduction to the style and ideas of Lorde. I will be searching more of hers.
Dec 07, Larissa rated it really liked it Shelves: books-i-own , non-fiction , feminism. Some short essays were better than others and interested me more, which explains the 4 stars. There were some very interesting ideas in here, especially on intersectionality. I definitely want to try and read more by Audre Lorde, even though I was already struggling with some of these essays.
Feb 05, Linda rated it really liked it Shelves: nonfic , poc , 4-star , ownvoices. This is a really nice introduction piece! Aug 14, Anna rated it really liked it. Aug 07, Michelle Nimusiima rated it it was amazing. I appreciate this collection of 5 thought-provoking essays as an introduction into the works of Audre Lorde.
Eager to read her other essays. Jun 07, May Watson rated it really liked it Shelves: non-fiction , female-author , feminism , beautifully-written , lgbt , racism. To turn aside from the anger of Black women with excuses or the pretexts of intimidation is to award no one power — it is merely another way of preserving racial blindness, the power of unaddressed privilege, unbreached, intact.
Guilt is only another form of objectification. Oppressed peoples are always being asked to stretch a little more, to bridge the gap between blindness and humanity. But To turn aside from the anger of Black women with excuses or the pretexts of intimidation is to award no one power — it is merely another way of preserving racial blindness, the power of unaddressed privilege, unbreached, intact.
But that time is over. Dec 12, Noemi Kuban rated it it was amazing. Read these. Jun 12, ink rated it it was amazing. Kept around as unavoidable adjuncts or pleasant pastimes, feelings were expected to kneel to thought as women were expected to kneel to men. But women have survived.
As poets. And there are no new pains. We have felt them all already. We have hidden that fact in the same place where we have hidden our power. They surface in our dreams, and it is our dreams that point the way to freedom. They are made realizable through our poems that give us the strength and courage to see, to feel, to speak, and to dare. Oct 17, Melissa rated it it was amazing. I'm so glad I picked up this book again during these days.
Audre's words about the power of uniting in our differences, restorative justice for the disenfranchised, and female community and drive were uplifting, comforting, and really recharged me. There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one ». Readers also enjoyed. About Audre Lorde. Audre Lorde. Audre Lorde was a revolutionary Black feminist.
Lorde's poetry was published very regularly during the s — in Langston Hughes' New Negro Poets, USA ; in several foreign anthologies; and in black literary magazines. During this time, she was politically active in civil rights, anti-war, and feminist movements.
Dudley Randall, a poet and critic, asserted in his review of the book that Lorde "does not wave a black flag, but her blackness is there, implicit, in the bone. But what this message of equality is saying is really "I want everyone to be equal, as long as we agree with the idea that my definition of success is the correct one.
You are free to be who you are, regardless of the color of your skin, as long as who you are is like me ".
This same thinking is replicated in academia and in the tech industry. Academia wants to be open to all as long as all agree on what is an authority, and how we communicate authority. The tech community is open to all as long as you are a good worker, agree that success is increased annual revenue and that the capitalist power structure is fundamental to your identity.
Clearly anyone who has worked in these two institutions knows that 'open to all' is of course, only true in some formal document, but not in practice. This is largely because in this frame work of equality difference is still a problem that can only be dealt with when these institutions limit that difference under a unified set of values. Sharing values is not the problem, the question is where do these values come from? These are values that are typically established by the a ruling class, values usually consist with a single race, gender and sexuality.
For the tech industry these values are simply the values of the market. Diversity in these institutions is diversity in name only, the underlying pressure is always reproduction of the existing dominant sources of power.
This is what Lorde is really challenging in her paper, the idea that we can have "equality" or "tolerance" without a genuine and deep appreciation of difference:. The reformism of my suburban youth was clearly "all black people have the potential to be just like white people". This is a common view of diversity I see in tech and academia: if you agree to our terms, then you are fine Anyone is welcome at our startup so long as you think and act like us.
Anyone can get a PhD as long as you agree that our way to knowledge is the true and only way to knowledge. In this way gestures that are acts of tolerance do nothing to influence the underlying power structures of these institutions that are at their heart oppressive and destructive of difference. The gestures can even serve to perpetuate these existing oppressive power structures by deluding us in to thinking something has been done, ultimately defending the very source of oppression they seek to subvert.
Lorde's call to accept difference is not one of mere ideology. If you believe we should accept difference simply because it is "the right thing to do" you're enmeshed in a world of dogma. This is why so many white American's struggle with the idea of racism. This ideology is a staple of American primary education.
But these people don't want to question the way their own way of life may be destructive of difference and oppressive to others. If you want to really understand the power structures that our world operates under the very best place to question first is all those things you assume are "right" and "wrong".
If you base your fight for equality on the premise of "it's just right! So long as you never question the ideologies that drive your life, especially if you work in tech or are an academic, you are always going to be operating in ideologies of a "racist patriarchy". The end result of this is that you end up betraying the very struggle you thought you were fighting with.
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