Summary Of The Transformation Of Silence Into Language And Action By Audre Lorde

“I am a black feminist… I recognize that my power as well as my primary obsessions come as a result of my blackness as well as my womaness, and therefore my struggles on both of these fronts are inseparable” … As a woman of color, I find that some feminists don’t seem terribly concerned with the issues unique to women of color—the ongoing effects of racism and post-colonialism, the status of women in the Third World, working against the trenchant archetypes black women are forced into (angry black woman, mammy, hottentot, and the like). (Gay 173).

- “The main issues we face today were prefaced by the work done by the previous waves of women. We are still working to vanquish the disparities in male and female pay and the reproductive rights of women. We are working to end violence against women in our nation as well as others. We are still fighting for acceptance and a true understanding of the term ‘feminism,’ it should be noted that we have made tremendous progress since the first

Furthermore, She provides a strong tone that evaluates the potential of a woman. She presents her speech with facts and with confidence and passion. Her tone is trying to motivate young women to act up and take action. Along the way in her speech she makes up a sarcastic tone by claiming that “[women]do not have executive ability, orderly minds, stability, leadership skills, and they are too emotional”(Chisholm, 149). The use of this tone provides affirmation that conveys young women to feel capable of doing anything that men can do. These words don’t define the potential of women nor their abilities. Women are strong, women can take anything, women are smart, women have leadership. Just like Chisholm, women have a voice to speak up and advocate for a change. Throughout her positives tones, she also presents an emotional appeal to the youth who are going to college and are struggling. In reality, some women don’t get the same opportunity as others.“...when a young woman graduates from college…she is likely to have a frustrating and demanding experience ahead of her”(Chisholm, 149). Women face challenges with their eligibility when applying to jobs. Looking for a job is not as easy for women, it takes time and persistence. Unlike men, who are seen as

After earning a doctorate, Castro was hired by a small men’s college in rural Indiana to teach feminism theory and women 's literature to thirty-five men. She was prepared and ready for the disagreements, the drop outs and the failures that couldn’t open up their minds on feminism. But she values those voices, the questions and hostility because "they taught me how to make feminism 's insights relevant to people outside a closed, snug room of agreement" (Castro, 98). She had learned how to create feminism theory, critical race theory and observation about class privilege relevant, exciting and even needful to people who had no material reason to care. She learned diplomacy.

During the Age of Enlightenment in the late eighteenth century, Mary Wollstonecraft presented a radical essay, A Vindication of the Rights of Women, that shed light on the largest, underrepresented groups of the time, women. The essay voiced the inequalities women at the time faced and called upon Wollstonecraft’s audience to invoke a revolution for the rights of women. Through her writing, she presented a compelling argument that slowly allowed women to question their “place” in society and demand change to the British social order. While these changes did not happen quickly, her work sparked the feminist movements through its unique message and called upon women to demand equality through the Match Girls Strike and Women’s Suffrage

Mary Wollstonecraft’s famous book, Vindication of the Rights of Women, is “one of the earliest expressions of a feminist consciousness.” Wollstonecraft claims that women are upset mainly due to the fact that they are not receiving the education they deserve, and goes on to explain how women are notorious for being weak, and mentally unstable. She blames the education system for this since all the books are written by men, and they claim that women are barley humans and are treated as another species. She questions the eligibility of men to claim they are better than women. A useful education, in her opinion, is one that teaches students how to be strong and independent. Her directed audience is anyone who is unsure of the true definition and meaning of feminism. Wollstonecraft believes that all humans are capable of the same intelligence, no matter the gender. Her overall idea is that every individual, both male and female, deserve equality.

The United States of America gained a large reputation of equality and social democracy. This was much better at the time than Europe which had less opportunity and was much harder to rise in social status unlike the United States. Although, an entire section of the United States population was cut off from these great improvements and those were women. After the revolution, “republican Motherhood”, the vision of women passing on knowledge to the youth was put on hold in the United States society. The “Cult of Domesticity” had taken women back to their homes to just not do work outside of home. Many people embraced the “Cult of Domesticity” and Republican Motherhood” in order to be apart of a ideal American motherhood. Although, blacks or even lower class women were unable to achieve this because of either economic or public restraint. Educated women that were in the middle or high class had a hard time moving up social class and slaves were often separated from their families holding them away from all of that. A Reformer in (doc 4), Margaret Fuller, is trying to have social and economic equality but it is held back by the “Cult of Domesticity” and “Republican Motherhood”.

By expressing this with the African American society of women who are continuously torched by the demanding words of men, McLune appeals strongly to all American women’s intellect of equality and respect. Women should not have to be judged by men and expect to be treated as if they owe anyone something, let alone have to be mistreated and belittled, if that were to be the case then men should be treated the same, therefore McLune’s audience, should understand that that is not how you define a black woman in any terms.

When I was reading The Transformation of silence into Language and action by Audre Lorde, remember me that day at work about my strong acensent. The article of Audre Lorden at the end have the big reflection that let broke the silence will be better to became a strong person and know that my voice have to be lisent because it is important. For me is important to speak so I can be hear by the customer and get better in my inglish. For the woman was important to broke the silence so she can be out of their painful of be silence. Also in my experience of racism at work reflect the philosophy by Judith Butler and is where I find what I really think about language, and culture. I was like I don't want to know how far cruelty and ignorance

The woman suffrage cannot be compared to the genocide of millions, the mass casualties of war, or the enslavement of the African American but it was a war millions of women fought for. The majority of women were suppressed by their husbands and the regulations in society leaving women neglected politically, economically, and socially with little authority or opportunity to encompass change. Women were looked upon in society as the house workers who were incapable of having respectable thoughts on decision making whatsoever, therefore detaching women from all aspects of life other than their motherly responsibility’s, to be a wife and a mother. Zinn, quoted “it seems that women have best been able to make their first escape from the prison of wifeliness, motherhood, femininity housework beautification isolation when their services have been desperately needed – whether in industry or in war or in social movements. Each time practicality pulled the women out of her prison in a kind of work- parole program- the attempt was made to push her back once the need was over…” ("19/Surprise 504." A People's History of the United States. ) this quote shows how women have obeyed the role that they were put in and didn’t question it. The obedience of the women in American has cause a delay in women

She describes how white women “ignore their built-in privilege of whiteness” when they ignore the black female’s point of view and focus solely on the white female’s view (117). She points out the hypocrisy of white feminists, in that they will refuse to read black females’ works because they are “too difficult to understand,” but will read the works of Shakespeare, Molière, Dostoyefsky, and Aristophanes (117) There’s an obvious contradiction between white feminists’ “incorporation” of black females into their movement and the exclusion of their literature, which Lorde later analyzes and determines is because white women would feel guilt upon recognizing and validating their experiences. Furthermore, the exclusion of black writings from the feminist movement weakens the strength of the movement, offering the opposite effect as desired. Lorde writes how “ignoring the differences of race between women and the implications of those differences presents the most serious threat to the mobilization of women’s joint power.” (117) Since the feminist movement seeks to apply social pressure to achieve social change, it would make sense to try to gain strength in numbers by including the most people possible; Lorde sees this strength in numbers and calls into question the consistency of the white side of the feminist movement with its

After stating these points she continues on to discuss the importance of women having the same opportunities as men. One of the first opportunities being the choice to pursue the education she desires and not one that be designated to her, “The education that will fit her to discharge the duties in the largest sphere of human usefulness, will best fit her for whatever special work she may be compelled to do.” She states that, “The strongest reason for giving woman all the opportunities for higher education, for the full development of her faculties, her

In an attempt to define Black Feminism, Collins clarifies that it must “avoid the idealist position that ideas can be evaluated in isolation from the groups that create them (Collins 385).” This clarification forms her basis for why Black Feminism is necessary, and who it serves. Thinking about feminism historically, the concerns of black women were pushed aside in favor of fighting sexism; a notable example occurs within the Suffrage movement, where votes for white women were prioritized over women of color in order to push such legislation through. And even when feminism began looking at other social injustices, such as racism and class issues, often only prominent feminists were invited to the discussion. What resulted was, and often continues to be, a problem of white women speaking for oppressed people. It’s impossible, Collins argues, to have Black Feminist thought without examining the experiences and positions of African American women. Therefore, Black Feminism must be a movement that “encompasses theoretical interpretations of Black women’s reality by those who live in it (Collins 386).” However, such a definition brings about many questions:

Through the use of words, Lorde is able to cut through the pressure of this veil to become a diamond. Lorde equates the two when she says that “how diamond comes into knot of flame” is how “sound comes into a word, colored” (2068). She also says that “some words are open like a diamond on glass windows”. Diamonds cut through glass, and the glass here can be seen as the veil. Again, she speaks about words, describing words “like stapled wagers in a perforated book-buy and sign and tear apart-and come whatever wills and all chances the stub remains” (2068). The stub (of the raffle book), in this case, seems to be her true self, and the torn off tickets, her words going out into the world (torn from the stub). Again, her words cut through a “veil” when she explains that other words “know sun seeking like gypsies over my tongue to explode through my lips like young sparrows bursting from a shell”. The words, like “birds”, burst through the “shell”, or veil

I found these past few weeks' readings particularly interesting because they offer a perspective on "America" and "the American dream" that is vastly different than those found in more conventional American texts. The one that stood out to me the most was the excerpt from Audre Lorde's "Transformation of Silence Into Language and Action," I enjoyed Lorde's text because it portrays a critical lesson that often goes untaught: be vocal about your beliefs. This work emphasized the idea that silencing one's own opinions out of fear of rejection or judgement will not do the individual any good. According to Lorde, not standing up for one's beliefs is just as bad, if not worse, than the backlash that the individual would receive for being vocal.