Audre Lorde takes a huge stand in expressing the responsibility for the oppressed to teach the oppressors their mistakes. This leads to me to the questions, what are the particular details within each of our lives that can be scrutinized and altered to help bring about change? How do we redefine difference for all women? I think one of the most important things to highlight is that differences aren’t bad, ignoring them keeps us apart. Lorde mentions that she had heard this argument among white women saying, “the excuse given is that the literatures of women of Color can only be taught by Colored women, or that they are too difficult to understand, or that classes cannot “get into” them because they come out of experience that are too different.” This is a clear example of how oppressors differentiate colored women and white women. I think the white women that said this don’t quite grasp the concept that this literature of women of color can help unify us by empathizing with people that don’t come from the same experience as us. In no way women of color experiences are too “alien” to comprehend, it is the ignorance of the oppressor that refuses to look passed their distorted view of different races. I believe being taught different point of views from women of color could help enrich our culture in many ways. One of the ways, is that we do not perceive differences among all women of color. Lorde mentioned that “it is not our …show more content…
We can implement ways to use each other’s differences to enrich our observations. As Lorde mentions, “change means growth, and growth can be painful” we all can strive to make a difference, even with others we perceive different from ourselves and having the same goal in mind, which is to end
How we see others have an impact on how we create laws and access to quality education, financial and social resources. Furthermore, how
As stated in Sabrina Alimahomed’s article, “ Thinking Outside The Rainbow: Women of Color Redefining Queer Politics and Identity,” queer Latinas and Asian/Pacific Islander women experience marginality within the mainstream LGBT movement and their racial and ethnic communities. For queer Latinas and Asian/Pacific Islander women, race creates another layer of oppression, while white women use their race as a form of power and privilege. As stated in Audre Lorde’s article, “ Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” women of color are regarded as others and not important when it comes to white feminism. White women ignore their privilege of being white, and instead of focusing on how women are oppressed based on differences of race, sexuality, class, and age, they just focus on being oppressed as women (Lorde 3) . They fail to understand or even want to comprehend the struggles of women of
In the book, Hurston showed repeatedly how African Americans were not treated the same way as people who were White. As a challenge to the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston expands her portrayal of inequality to gender. Some examples of views within the book that depart from other people within the Harlem Renaissance is that she had a very strong feminist view in a movement that focused on African Americans. An example in the book of her discussing the role of women is, “Uh women by herself is a pitiful thing … Dey need aid and assistance” (90).
She understood that while she was under the dominance of white men, she had predominance over ladies of another ethnic background, such as women of color. White privilege is seen as an unacknowledged and standard norm of the majority, however it is within this “unseen norm” that outlines the racial divides of this country. From
With that being said if Sojounor could elaberate on the struggles she went through while raising her thirteen children in a racist and inequality era women and other races would understand more. A strategy she used to open the eyes of caucasian male in particular was the biblical examples. “He says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from?”
Lorde's legacy continues to inspire activists and artists today, as she remains a powerful voice for social justice and equality. Lorde explains why poetry is a necessity to women and what being a woman truly means, especially as a black woman herself. She claims that finding your voice is a means of understanding oneself and reinvigorating old ideas in an emotion-rich light. Audre Lorde's points that women must recognize the importance of
In writing this paper it helped me think more on a critical level on just how impactful this really is. I hope for one day we learn from our mistakes and instead of putting people down because we have different views we pick them up and work together for a better
In the 1980’s black women are faced with a lot pressure in society, Because women of color are both women and racial minorities, they face more pressure in which lower economic opportunities due to their race and their gender. This pressure is reflected both in the jobs available to them and in their lower pay. Also because they are women of color they are likely to be the giver of the house and also within the families. Through the use of anecdotes,rhetorical questions, anaphora, ethos and metaphors, "In The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism, Audre Lorde argues that women of color need to respond to racism with anger spurred from their fear and that not a bad thing depends on how anger is portrayed.
When no influence is strong enough to unify people, they divide. They struggle” (91). During times of instability, the “influence” that once brought people together is long forgotten, people only look out for themselves. This stimulates the division of like people and as a result, the community struggles. She examines every person around her to make sense of her thoughts and values and to find her place in the world.
During this week, we have covered numerous topics, none more prominent than the oppression of women. Everyone had different opinions, allowing me to take into account different views on the issue. In one of the texts we examined, “Oppression”, Marilyn Frye, a philosopher, debates the subjugation of women. She states the cultural customs that causes oppression of women. I do agree with her view that women are oppressed, but I do not agree that it is just women.
As black women always conform under patriarchal principles, women are generally silenced and deprived of rights because men are entitled to control everything. Women are silenced in a way that they lose their confidence and hesitate to speak up due to the norms present in the society they live in. Hence, even if women have the confidence to try to speak, men wouldn’t bother to listen since men ought to believe that they are superior to women. In addition to that, women often live in a life cycle of repetitions due to patriarchal principles since women are established to fulfill the roles the society had given them. It is evidenced by Celie as she struggles to survive and to define oneself apart from the controlling, manipulative, and abusive men in her life.
Many of Lorde’s writings address the ‘theory of difference’, which is the idea that gender is not binary. That the way we see the opposition between men and women is overly simplistic. Audre believed that it is not our differences that divide us but the inability to
The reading by Adure Lorde, “Poetry is Not a Luxury,” explain relate to Alike’s life. As a black female that identifies with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender community she shares a similar experience with that of Adure Lorde. Adure Lorde expresses, “For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, them into idea, then into more tangible action.”
Black women are treated less than because of their ascribed traits, their gender and race, and are often dehumanized and belittled throughout the movie. They are treated like slaves and are seen as easily disposable. There are several moments throughout the film that show the racial, gender, and class inequalities. These moments also show exploitation and opportunity hoarding. The Help also explains historical context of the inequality that occurred during that time period.
It is exactly what Lorde talks about, hatred among themselves (Black women). She sets an example