Audre Lorde

They say it is not our difference that divide use, yet our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences (Audre, Lorde). Many believe racism to be a thing of the past; an epidemic that died after the civil rights movement, or the equal rights act. The sad truth reveals that African Americans continue to fight the struggle for freedom, racial segregation, and deceitful stereotypes as they did before. In the poem Skittles for Trayvon: A diminishing Suite in Verse, For Trayvon…

Irigaray theorizes that the body’s symbolic meaning structures subjectivity. In Irigaray’s Corporeality, the body becomes an effect and product of symbolism which creates a specific body type only appropriate for society. Therefore, language and culture produce the body. (Notes, 10/6/15). Irigaray stated that “Women’s social inferiority is reinforced and complicated by the fact that woman does not have access to language, except through recourse to ‘masculine’ systems of representation which…

institutions do play a large role in African American communities as well as how social structure is socially constructed which is why individual agency has the ability to change social structures.Also, Collins’ theory combines the theories of Audre Lorde through her argument of including excluded voices and the role of individual agency and Trinh T Minh-ha by proving that words can change which relies on politics; both women are intersectional feminists who have similar concerns as Collins;…

Feminism is popularly defined as the belief that all genders should have equal opportunities in economic, political, and social life. Feminism has a long history in the United States, beginning in the 1800s and continuing to make strides in our current society. While the first-wave feminism of the 19th and early 20th centuries focused on women 's legal rights, including women’s suffrage, the second-wave feminism, also known as the Women’s Liberation Movement, approached feminism by examining…

This paper attempts to examine how Toni Morrison has employed female black solidaity as an act of resistance against the patriarchal set up. The warmth, security and sisterhood which Nel-Sula shares through their relationship not only heal the oppression meted out to the doubly marginalized black women , but also poses a threat to the heterosexual patriarchal structure. Through the two complementary characters Nel-Sula, this paper attempts to delineate how female solidarity itself can be a tool…

I didn’t know that I was Black until the fifth grade. I mean, I always knew that I was Black as in the Black slash African American box I poorly shaded in every year on the CST. But, I was never truly cognizant in the ways in which the melanin in my skin differentiated me from others. During a passing period between classes, I came to a realization of my race. Like hundreds of times before, I entered the dimly lit restroom connected to the cafeteria of my elementary school; but, instead of…

Eileen Myles, a sixty-seven year old poet and activist, has over the course of their life written poetry, essays, novels, libretto and plays. They were born in 1949 and later graduated from UMass, Boston. In the mid-70s they moved to New York City to work as an assistant to Pulitzer-Prize winning poet, James Schuyler, in pursuit of living and growing as a poet. Myles’ identity is made up of many dovetailing parts; they are gender-neutral, a poet, a “dyke,” child of the working class and later a…

Sexual identity and discovery is a process that can take a toll on an individual emotionally, physically and spiritually if not handled in the proper fashion. Since sexuality is a part of our being as humans, each human must discover a way in which they would want to handle their sexuality. When sexual identity is expressed, it can range from the way in which you give pleasure, the way in which you want or may not want to receive pleasure, from who you may want it from, etc. These criteria…

reflects on the person who is judging and not the person who is judged. Everyone should be treated equally. (Gordon Brown, 1980). It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences. (Audre lorde, 1998). Discrimination has a lot of layers that make it tough for minorities to get a leg up. (Bill Gates, 1995). A discrimination impact human’s health in terrible terrible ways. (Gilbert Herdt , 2001). Discrimination is a disease. (Roger…

"I have come to believe over and over again that what is most important to me must be spoken, made verbal and shared, even at the risk of having it bruised or misunderstood." (Audre Lorde). I believe black women should become CEOs of major companies. As of January 2014, Over 25 white women CEOs, 10 Asian Americans, 10 Latinos, and 6 African Americans. After looking over these statistics I came up with the question "How does racial disparities for women in the segregated workplace of the sixties…