Audre Lorde Use Of Patriarchy

Audre Lorde’s, Uses of the Erotic, and Sapphire’s Push, both highlight important concepts surrounding women, race and sexuality. Lorde uses the word erotic and expresses it as a power that women possess. A power which she expresses is related to sex but not bound to it. Lorde emphasizes the importance of connecting with our bodies, our feelings, and those of other women as well. We as women have a power within us which we need to explore. On the other hand, Sapphire introduces us to a young African American woman named Precious who is the victim of physical, sexual, and verbal abuse by both her mother and father. Her inner power has been tainted and introduced to her in a way which confuses her soul. It is because of her abuse that she disconnects
“The erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling.” (Lorde, pg. 87). Lorde refers to the erotic as a suppressed power which is filled with uncertainty until we as women tap into it. Lorde challenges what we know of eroticism, especially as it is a concept deeply rooted in the patriarchy. She speaks of the misleading correlation of the erotic with pornography, saying, “we have often turned away from the exploration and consideration of the erotic as a source of power and information, confusing it with its opposite, the pornographic. But pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic, for it represents the suppression of true feeling. Pornography emphasizes sensation without feeling.” (Lorde, pg. 88). It is misleading when eroticism is defined closely with pornography. In my understanding, they are opposites as described as Lorde. Women are taught this power and knowledge within them is not rational, and therefore it becomes oppressed. This oppression, denies us the true power we hold within us. Eroticism as a power, from Lorde’s essay is having the deepest knowledge of our desires and ourselves, to feel fully all these components to our core. And to not only feel them, but to feel them fully by ourselves- with the help of no
Maybe I never find no love, nobody. At least when I look at the girls I see them and when they look they see ME, not what I looks like. But it seems like boyz just see what you looks like. (Sapphire, 1996, pg. 95). We see Precious begin to question gender, sexuality, her worth. All of which were wrongly defined to her at a young age. We see her begin her journey and push through all her struggles in order to feel alive and connected to herself by herself. She beings to use characters introduced to her through literature to work through the situations she has been put through in her life. It is here that we see education shape her perception and we see her tap into her inner power and