Femininity and power
The erotic has often been misnamed by men and used against women. It has been made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticized sensation. For this reason, 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 porno... See more
Audre Lorde. • Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power
But when we begin to live from within outward, in touch with the power of the erotic within ourselves, and allowing that power to inform and illuminate our actions upon the world around us, then we begin to be responsible to ourselves in the deepest sense. For as we begin to recognize our deepest feelings, we begin to give up, of necessity, being s... See more
Audre Lorde. • Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power
I love this and I have felt this feeling much more recently - pole, dancing at home like when I was a kid pretending to be in music videos, moving my body the way I want to and wearing clothes that help me show my highest self
Of course, women so empowered are dangerous. So we are taught to separate the erotic demand from most vital areas of our lives other than sex. And the lack of concern for the erotic root and satisfactions of our work is felt in our disaffection from so much of what we do
Audre Lorde. • Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power
As women, we have come to distrust that power which rises from our deepest and nonrational knowledge. We have been warned against it all our lives by the male world, which values this depth of feeling enough to keep women around in order to exercise it in the service of men, but which fears this same depth too much to examine the possibilities of i... See more
Audre Lorde. • Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power
we have narrowed feminism and femininity through the lens of the male gaze and male expectations
Recognizing the power of the erotic within our lives can give us the energy to pursue genuine change within our world, rather than merely settling for a shift of characters in the same weary drama
Audre Lorde. • Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power
i want to teach this to others
There are frequent attempts to equate pornography and eroticism, two diametrically opposed uses of the sexual .
Audre Lorde. • Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power
eroticism to serve men and eroticism for self empowerment
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. In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various sources of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change.
Audre Lorde. • Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power
Femininity and power - Audre Lorde
Ideas related to this collection