Women Redefining Difference By Audre Lorde Summary

What does it mean to you to be a black girl? If you aren’t one, what do you see when you visualize a black girl? If your imagination limits you to just an afro-centric featured, loud and slang-loving, uneducated woman, then this piece is addressed to you. The persistence of the stereotypes concerning average black girls have chained us all to the earlier listed attributes. One side effect of this dangerous connection is the wide opening for a new form of discrimination it creates. Whether it is depicted through slave owners allocating the preferable duties to lighter-skinned black woman, or in modern times where a dislike in rap music categorizes you as not really black, segregation within black communities occur. Tracing all the way back to elementary school, my education on the subject of racial segregation has been constricted to just the injustices routed by dissimilarities between racial groups. What failed to be discussed was the intragroup discrimination occurring in the black society from both outside observers and inside members. Unfortunately, our differences in the level of education, in physical appearance, and in our social factors such as our behaviour, personality or what we believe in have been pitted against each other to deny the variety of unique identities that we as black individuals carry.

When Lorde cannot go just simply because of her ethnicity, is a frightful thing. Lorde has to overcome this because its how the world works now, which is a frightful concept for a young girl to experience. Secondly Lorde experiences discrimination when her family cannot eat in the restaurant because they have a different ethnicity other than white. “The waitress moved along the line of us closer to my father and spoke again. ‘I said i kin give you take out, but you can't eat here. sorry.’”(Lorde, 242). Lorde uses characterization when she uses what the person said to her in the essay. This makes the reader develop an idea about the personality of the waitress. Lorde and her family encounter segregation in this situation. This racism changes Lorde’s view on America. “The waitress was white, and the counter was white, and the ice cream I never ate in Washington, D.C.,

With these mediums of oppression, her first theory, referred to as the Matrix of Domination is brought up. Previous models of oppression were considered additive, or hierarchal, meaning that they must be ranked. Collins uses the experiences of black women to explain that all these modes of oppression, gender, race and class are interlocking and equally important when viewing domination. This bleeds mores into Part II, but the essentials are discussed in this section.

She challenges both antiracist and feminist theories since they fail and neglect to focus on the issue of intersection of gender and race. The theories are inadequate and cannot address the oppression experienced by the black women. White women, especially from the middle class are treated as emotional and delicate compared to men with special need for protection according to the feminist theorists. However, the situation is worse among the black women since they are subjected to racist abuses that are common in the society (Beauvoir 2). This implies they are more delicate than the white women with a need for more protection. On the contrary, black women are seen as “mules” and are expected to perform heavy cleaning chores of the fact that they are fragile and passive. Crenshaw argues that black women are forced to look for jobs instead of taking care for their children. They are pressured to use depo provera, norplant and other family planning drugs that are common with white women. This is an illustration of intersectionality of race, gender and

In our society today, we have made a lot of progress in terms of race and gender. In comparison with “Kindred” by Octavia Butler and “To Sir, With Love,” we have moved forward in our relationships with and how we view people of a different race and a certain gender. In “Kindred,” we are shown how blacks were mistreated in the antebellum south and women were used as rag dolls to their masters as this was all acceptable. While viewing “To Sir, With Love,” it demonstrated how blacks were still struggling with discrimination, as well as, the stereotypes that women belong in the household, cooking and cleaning. Although we have advanced since those times, we still have racism and gender stereotypes today and still have quite a bit to learn and areas

She distinguishes between anger, guilt, and defensiveness, the latter two of which, she says, are of no use to anyone. Lorde gives examples of the kind of nonchalant racism, mostly on the part of white women, that infuriates her. Racism is a black women’s problem a problem

The oppression of certain groups of people is nothing new. These oppressed groups tend to be looked at as different because of their physical features and/or cultural background. Many efforts to improve the lives of the oppressed have been achieved, but there is still a long way to go. These oppressed groups consist of women and different ethnic groups which have had to deal with being pushed around by the white man throughout history. Frantz Fanon deals with his experience as a black man in the French colony of Martinique. Simone de Beauvoir speaks about her experience as a woman in the French mainland. Both authors assert the idea that the man, in particular the white man, sets himself as the superior being that defines what it is to be human and views women and blacks or minorities as the “Other”.

This essay will critically analyze the various forms of oppression that are set out through Audrey Lorde’s concept of the “mythical norm” as discussed by Barbara Perry. Through the “mythical norm”, it can be seen that oppressions exists through the forms of racism and sexism which are exhibited through many scholarly texts and articles. Racism can be seen as a means of privilege and power that is given to individuals who coincide with the criteria of societies norm. In this case, these individuals consist of white, heterosexual, male beings who unknowingly oppress their racialized counterparts. Oppression can also be seen through the form of sexism. Sexism looks at the injustice and inequality of male dominance over female, which results to men being more privileged and advantaged in society over women who are disadvantaged. Therefore, privilege and power is obtained by those who coincide with the concept of the “mythical norm”, leaving minority groups who do not coincide with this conception oppressed through the forms of racism and sexism.

Mrs. Harrison believes that black people have to earn the white people’s respect, trust, freedoms and equality. Mrs. Harrison says to Bob, “You mustn’t think in terms of trying to get even with them, you must accept whatever they do for you and try to prove yourself worthy to be entrusted with more” (52). She states that if black people work hard enough, the white people will reward them. She also wants the black community to wait for the white people to “give” them something better, to accept what the white people “do for them.” She compares the idea of black and white people equality to communism. She tells Bob that he needs to make himself worthy of respect. “You know yourself, Bob, a lot of our people are just not worthy, they just don’t deserve anymore than they’re getting” (52). These comments illustrate how class has a great influence on Mrs. Harrison’s point of view on race. Without having to work and being rich, she is ignorant of the racial discrimination that a day to day skilled worker of Bob’s color has to go through. Like her daughter Alice, Mrs. Harrison has been given special treatment by the white people for her lighter skin, and her social and economic class.

Racism is apparent during all of Audre’s trip. The essay begins with an example of how Audre’s sister Phyllis is not allowed to attend her school trip because she is black. Audre points out, “I learned later that Phyllis's high school senior class trip had been to Washington, but the nuns had given her back her deposit in private, explaining to her that the class, all of whom were white, except Phyllis, would be staying in a hotel where Phyllis “would not be happy,” meaning, Daddy explained to her, also in private, that they did not rent rooms to Negroes” (240). The use of the nuns telling Phyllis that she “would not be happy” is a euphemism to hide the fact that she is not welcome by the trip organizers. This is a poignant example of racism in America, that people of color cannot stay in the same hotels as whites, proving that people of color cannot integrate equally into American society. This also shows that if minorities can’t get the same educational opportunities, they will not be able to advance economically. A second example of racism in Audre’s trip is how people of color were not allowed into railway dining cars. As Audre informs us, “My mother never mentioned that black people were not allowed into railroad dining cars headed south in 1947” (240). Lorde uses the “south” as a metonymy for racism to show, indirectly, that people of color in the south were treated as less than others. The fact that black people were not allowed to use the

In her essay “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”, Audre Lorde details multiple groups of people and their actions and attitudes. She focuses on and criticizes different demographics’ actions and how they impede the achievement of equality for people like herself. She portrays the disenfranchisement and underappreciation she receives multilaterally because of her race, social class, sexual orientation, age, gender. Lorde’s prevailing goal of the essay is to demonstrate that the marginalized should not nullify, ignore, suppress, or attack the expression of differences between themselves. Rather, she asserts that they should recognize and celebrate those differences to unite across demographic boundaries so they may together

It was the first time Lorde was confronted with racism and her family’s reaction to it. They had to take a train to go to New York City and when it was time to eat, they were not allowed to enter the dining area so they had to eat in their seats. Her mother told her that it is better to eat home cooked food anyway. Audre Lorde did not question her mother since she knew her mother was right. Though her parents made the incident look okay, it deeply bothered Lorde. There was another incident when they arrived to D.C from New York City; when Audre’s family decided to get some ice cream treats from a drugstore, they were told to order their food and eat it outside because they were blacks. Her parents ignore the comment and left. Lorde was outrages by their reaction. She knew what was going on but she was not allowed to acknowledge this racism. She saw that her family was just as upset but they chose to ignore it and walk away, hoping for the racism to go away. These incidents were carved inside Lorde while growing up. It was a hard journey for her until she found a way to deal with it.

Audre Lorde talks in her essay how women, especially black women in our society are get treated lesser based on their age, race, class and sexual preferences. She talks how white females take the over hand because their voices are more dominant while other women from other culture are getting ignored and have nothing to say, they simply ignore the differences. She also states that the If you not mainstream you worth less than anyone else. But it’s not only white vs black, in the black community, black females are treated powerless and have the lowest salaries. She made her own experiences in being classified and judged, Lorde herself is a black female lesbian who had difficulties in life of what she is. Based on magazines, TV or social media

Since the colonists landed on the eastern shore of what is now the United States, there has been conflicts between the different races. White people assumed a dominant role. They wiped out most of the Native Americans and enslaved the African people after bringing them to their colonies. These social dynamics changed over time but it has been a slow process. In Angela Davis’ book Women, Race, & Class, she delves into the oppression that was faced by people due to their social identities. She believes that people do not suffer because of class status, racial or gender identity alone but rather they suffer because of different combinations of the three.

This poem generational II is pointing out how black girls want to grow into the women their mother really desire them to be. But sometimes girls don’t want to be how their mothers turned out. This is trauma theory, by showing how girls want to see their mother’s happy but asking if they will truly be happy. There are a lot of girls that end up being the women they wanted to be and not the women their mother wanted them to become. Lorde is showing in her writing by speaking on women behaves on wanting to be their own women. She is showing how the women wants to walk alone but is afraid to. Lorde is expressing how women are afraid of coming out saying they don’t want to be just like their mother. They are afraid to have the same traits as their mother, which in some cases can be scary. For example, in Lorde poem she quotes “A Black girl going into the women her mother desires.” In this section of the poem Lorde is expressing how the mother wants her daughter to become her. The second half of the pome quote “and prayed for walk alone and afraid of both their angers.” Lorde is giving her audience a visual of the mother praying and wishing her daughter will become her, but then again the daughter doesn’t have a voice, but shows