Audrey Bromley's Empowerment: An Analysis

Although the ability to gain power as in individual is a trek on its own, as a group it creates a sense of empowerment. This empowerment is portrayed through Bromley’s ‘You’re Making My Head Spin.’ Bromley describes empowerment as “a collective, expansive, and beneficial rather than merely satisfying for the individual. Empowerment increases the social, economic, political and spiritual strength of individuals and their communities. It is not finite like a pie. A piece for one person doesn’t leave less for everyone else” (Bromley 50). Empowerment takes Kimmel’s argument that “power is never the property of an individual; it belongs to a group and remains in existence only so as the group keeps together” (Kimmel 108) to the next level. Empowerment

Audrey Lorde discusses the importance of speaking up and breaking the silence in ‘The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,’ a chapter from the ‘Sister Outsider.’ “What is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood” (Lorde 40). Lorde acknowledges the power within the system but doesn’t allow the fear to limit her. “and I begin to recognize a source of power within myself that comes from the knowledge that while it is most desirable not to be afraid, learning to put fear into a perspective gave me more strength” (Lorde 41). The fear we so often face, whether it be from our race, religion, class, status, sexual orientation, gender, age or ability, we need to understand that knowledge is power. That with knowledge comes the ability to gain power. With knowledge comes empowerment and enlightenment. Lorde connects Bromley’s concept of power and privilege with Kimmel’s concept of fear related to power to state that, “in the cause of silence, each of us draws the face of her own fear – fear of contempt, of censure, or some judgement, or recognition, of challenge, of annihilation” (Lorde