Age, Class, And Sex: Women Redefining Difference By Audre Lorde

Despite the women in this group that struggle and overcome adversity in a word that’s meant to suffocate them, there are a few black women who fail to realize there magic. Some of my sisters fall short due to negative public perceptions with professionalism which causes them to shy away from investing in their future. These few outsiders who didn’t get the unwritten code/norm of what a black woman must represent allows the degradation of our group to continue.

For this journal entry, I chose to compare Audre Lorde's Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference to the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards. In Lorde's piece, she talks about how oppressed people are often taught to ignore the fact that they are oppressed. We are taught to handle the difference we face by either ignoring them, copying them or destroying them. Lorde says that society as a whole has failed to see differences as a "springboard for creative change." Her article focuses on the fact that refusing to see creative differences makes it impossible to see the different problems and pitfalls women face. Some problems all women share and other problems all women do not share. For example, the experience of a white woman is different

Furthermore, Christina Judith Hein, in Color-Blindness vs. Race Matters claims that a common goal cannot be that every individual is treated the same, regardless of their race, gender, or age, but rather, these differences require different responses within the social framework with certain norms and values. Reactions to an individual must be specific to that individual’s needs.

Gender inequality was a big issue during the early 1900s, and especially for the African American women because some “Africa American women were used as sex slaves or just slaves in generally” (Karpowitz). These women were treated badly even if it was from their dad or their "husband"/owners, but at the end of the day they knew only one person who these women can trust which is God. In Alice Walker’s novel, she shows and expresses how women will have bad times or bumps on the road, but if they keep going towards their dream they will succeed. Walker also showed how women did not have a voice to stand up for themselves but later in their life they started getting together to fight back for their rights. In The Color Purple, Alice Walker demonstrates gender inequality in the lives of African Americans in the early 1900s.

In the book “To Kill A Mockingbird”, Mayella Ewell is the conflict of the story. To challenge herself to see if she is powerful based on class, gender, and race. Mayella is powerful due to her race; however, she would not be powerful due to her class and gender. One might think she is powerful over all; however, she does not have power in the eyes of some readers. Proceeding on to see if Mayella has power in race.

Lorde, writer of “Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference,” gives a firsthand insight on what it means to be a 49-year old, African American, middle class, lesbian woman. She describes how these identities, which she is absolutely proud of, work together as forces of “oppression” in order to create a systematic set of experiences that disempower her and empowers others. In fact, she focuses a lot on those who are empowered by the oppressions others experience. Lorde describes that “[i]n america, this norm is usually defined as white, thin, male, young, heterosexual, Christian, and financial¬ly secure” (Lorde 285). Even though this approach is definitely related to intersectionality, the author does not explicitly state the term.

Why is it that “#blacklivesmatter” is only read and hashtagged in regards to police brutality? How come the names of Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, and Trayvon Martin are instantly recognized, but most people question who Amber Monroe, Elisha Walker, and Shade Schuler are? Why was Bruce Jenner’s transformation into Caitlyn Jenner more important than the deaths of the 17 transgender woman murdered this year? A hate crime is defined as “a crime motivated by racial, sexual, or other prejudice, typically one involving violence.” Monroe, Walker, and Schuler are all African American transgender woman and victims of hate crimes. This isn’t a situation where only black transgender woman lives are being taken though, all transgender women are suffering

Many people in the United States society believe that people of all cultures, races, and ethnicities are now on an even playing field. People with this belief support their logic with the argument that since equal rights for people of color and women have been required by law for some time now, we are all inherently as equal as claimed in the Declaration of Independence. Many believe that race is no longer an issue, a viewpoint frequently referred to as color-blindness. National polling data indicated that a majority of whites now believe discrimination against racial minorities no longer exists. (Gallagher, 96) Color-blindness allows a white person to define himself or herself as politically and racially tolerant and then proclaim their

An intersectional approach is an approach which seeks to demonstrate how race, class, gender and sexuality make certain experiences different. Intersectionality is the overlapping of social categories such as race, class, gender and sexuality that leads to further discrimination against a certain individual or group. To take an intersectional approach to understand race, class, gender and sexuality, is to consider hardships not as a similar element for all individuals without regards to race, but instead consider where in a specific hardship different races, genders, classes and sexualities are affected different. According to Crenshaw, “many of the experiences Black women face are not subsumed within the traditional boundaries of race or gender discrimination as these boundaries are currently understood, and that the intersection of racism and sexism factors into Black women’s lives in ways that cannot be captured wholly by looking at the woman race or gender dimensions of those experiences separately” (Crenshaw, 357). Crenshaw explains that the personal experiences of women of color cannot be fully understood by looking at race or gender discrimination as two separate factors, but in fact can be understood if both aspects are looked at together. When race and gender are examined separately, this causes for women of color to be “erased”. Crenshaw says, “ And so, when the practices expound identity as “woman” or “person of color” as an either/or proposition, they relegate

claims to believe in gender equality. Throughout the novel Coverdale and Zenobia discuss the issues of feminism and gender roles. Although he appears to sympathize with Zenobia’s feminist cause, there were occasions in the novel which proved otherwise. Coverdale’s support for Zenobia’s fight for equality might only be an act to win her approval. The purpose of the Blithedale community was for it to be a place where individuals would be treated equally, however, Coverdale’s mindset has a challenging time of remembering the goal of the community. During The Blithedale Romance, Coverdale would be analyzing people’s masculine and feminine traits. Coverdale does believe in gender stereotypes by constantly thinking about the aspects each gender should possess and his desire for power over women.

Kimberlé Crenshaw is an esteemed civil rights advocate and law professor. Crenshaw introduced the concept of “intersectionality” to the acclaimed feminist theory close to 30 years ago in a paper written for the University of Chicago Legal Forum, describing the “intersectional experience” as something “greater than the sum of racism and sexism. (Crenshaw)” She wrote in terms of intersectional feminism, which examines the overlapping systems of oppression and discrimination that women face, based not just on gender but on ethnicity, sexuality, economic background and a number of other axes. She speaks on it in a sense that the term intersectionality provides us with a way to see issue that arise from discrimination or disempowerment often being more complicated for people who are subjected to multiple forms of exclusion because of the protected clauses they may possess. Crenshaw speaks on the “urgency of intersectionality” in her Ted talk. This as well as her spreading awareness for the #SayHerName campaign drives a tie between the necessity for intersectionality advocaism and the the occurrences of neglect and violence present in societal happenings today. The question that stands in the forefront of her work is how can we effectively apply an intersectional methodology to analysis of violence and other acts against people who are often being neglected of any sort of recognition in social issues today? Intersectionality is one of the better known concepts within the

Audre Lorde was born in New York City the 18th of February 1934 of Caribbean immigrants. As a child, the author had difficulties in communication that made her acknowledge poetry and its power as a form of expression, allowing her to become a writer, a feminist, and a civil rights activist. Which is very strong in “Age, Race, Class, and Sex” in which the author describes her feelings using a style of superior journalism with elements of popular culture that leads to racial issues. In order to emphasize more her sociological argument, Lorde uses personal experience as ethos. “As a forty-nine- year- old Black lesbian feminist socialist, mother of two including one boy, and member an inter- racial couple, I usually find myself a part of some group defined as other, deviant, inferior, or just plain wrong”(Lorde, 114). Audre Lorde strength is in her inferiority and points out very actual issues such as: distortion of relationship between oppressor and oppressed and the misnamed differences that still leads to racism.

Patricia Hill Collins addresses the issue of how focussing on the naming of particular struggle can become a “political distraction” from gendered racist and sexist oppression that Black Women face (Alexander-Floyd & Simien 2006) Collins contends that womanism “exaggerates out group differences and minimises in group variation by assembling a stable and homogenous racial group identity” (Alexander-Floyd & Simien 2006) potentially, this comes with the ubiquitous essentialisation of Black Women struggles, which denies varied experience of Black Women who align with various social-culture heritages.

In the article “ Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference” by Audre Lorde , she talks about the differences between people in our society, the differences between black and white women, the different isms of society, and what we can do to change.

A disguise is used to mask a person’s identity and it is used as a tool to aid a person’s escape from reality. In Eliza Haywood’s novel Fantomina or Love in a Maze, the main character’s true identity is unknown to the reader and the characters featured in Haywood’s novel are fabricated personas. As the title suggests, the main character finds herself in a love maze. Fantomina’s disguises help guide her through this maze to an end goal. Whether this goal is to fulfill her own desires or to find love is unclear however, Fantomina will stop at nothing and the choices she makes reflect this. Eliza Haywood uses her masquerade novel, Fantomina, to challenge common misconceptions for women in social positions, gender, morality and identity.