In Your Face Women: Audre Lorde

Friday, June 1, 2012

Audre Lorde

It is not by happenstance that world famous author and poet Audre Lorde put the word "warrior" before the word "poet" when referring to herself. Active in civil rights, anti-war, lesbian and womanist movements in the 1960's and beyond, Lorde was one of the first and most vehement of critics of early feminists for focusing primarily on the experiences of White middle-class women to the exclusion of women of color, whose lives were radically different.

Her essay "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House" is considered by many to be a classic discussion of one of the most crucial concepts related to social change. Declaring without apology that White feminists who ignore the double burden of women of color (on both racial and gender lines) are "agents of oppression" just like White men, Lorde responded to their outrage by saying, "What you hear in my voice is fury, not suffering."

When arch-conservative and well-known racist Senator Jesse Helms attacked her work, Lorde wrote like the in-your-face woman she was: "Helms' objection to my work is not about obscenity...or even about sex. It is about revolution and change...[He] represents...white patriarchal power...[and he] knows that my writing is aimed at his destruction, and the destruction of every single thing he stands for."

1 comment:

UnknownSeptember 30, 2018 at 1:11 PM
I hope yr still around. I was looking for an online version of Audre Lorde's brilliant poem - Jesse Helms. Alas, I'll hv to get up and retrieve my hard copy. Serendipitously, I found the notice abt yr book project. I'd like to hear more. Teresa V.
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"Exceptional women appear at certain moments in history and are moved by special forces. Men view these women as supernatural beings and their deeds as miracles. Indeed, women are bright stars whose light penetrates dark clouds. They rise in times of trouble when the wills of men are tried. In moments of danger, when women emerge by their side, men utter no protest. Yet women's great acts and endless sacrifices do not change men's views of women. Through their arrogance, men refuse to see the capabilities of women. Faced with contradiction they prefer to raise women above the ordinary human plane instead of placing them on a level equal to their own. Men have singled out women of outstanding merit and put them on a pedestal to avoid recognizing the capabilities of all women." ~ Huda Sha'arawi (1879-1947)

Quotes by In Your Face Women

"The dogma of woman's complete historical subjection to men must be rated as one of the most fantastic myths ever created by the human mind." ~ Historian Mary Ritter Beard
"Humanity has two parts, men and women, and we ought to be walking hand in hand; instead there is antagonism, and it will last as long as the ‘stronger’ half controls, or thinks it controls, the ‘weaker’ half." ~ Louise Michel (1830-1905)
"All I ask of our brethren is, that they will take their feet from off our necks and permit us to stand upright on that ground which God destined us to occupy." ~ Sarah Grimke (1792-1873)
“My own sex, I hope, will excuse me if I treat them like rational creatures, instead of flattering their fascinating graces and viewing them as if they were in a state of perpetual childhood, unable to stand alone.” ~ Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
"There is a world-old controversy that crops up whenever women attempt to enter a new field. Is a woman fit for that work? It would seem that a woman's success in any particular field would prove her fitness for that work, without regard to theories to the contrary." ~ Ruth Law (1918)
"If you ask me what office women should fill, I reply, 'Any...Let them be sea captains, if you will. I do not doubt that there are women well fitted for such an office.'" ~ Margaret Fuller (circa 1845)
"There are very few jobs that actually require a penis or a vagina. All others should be open to everybody." ~ Lawyer & Civil Rights Activist Florynce Kennedy
"A girl should be two things: who and what she wants." ~ Coco Chanel
"The Glass Ceiling isn't actually made of glass...it's a very thick layer of men." ~ Political Advisor Author Ann Lewis
"I suppose I could have stayed home, baked cookies, and had teas, but what I decided to do was fulfill my profession." U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
"I'll feel equality has arrived when we can elect to office women who are as incompetent as some of the men who are already there." ~ Political Activist Maureen Reagan
"Somewhere out in this audience may even be someone who will one day follow in my footsteps and preside over the White House as the President's spouse. I wish him well." ~ Barbara Bush
"I have a brain and a uterus. I use them both." ~ Politician Pat Schroeder
"Speaking generally, the women had not only no voice in the management of the country, but she had no control over her property, earned or inherited; no control of her own children; no control even of her own person. If that is not a condition of slavery, it bears a close resemblance to it." ~ Charlotte Perkins Gilman
“The condition of our sex is so deplorable that it is our duty even to break the law in order to call attention to the reasons why we do so.” ~ Emmeline Pankhurst (1908)
“You can bind my body, tie my hands, govern my actions: you are the strongest, and society adds to your power; but with my will, sir, you can do nothing.” ~ Amandine-Aurore-Lucile Dupin (“George Sand”) (1831)
“I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat.” ~ Author & Journalist Rebecca West (1913)
“It occurred to me when I was thirteen and wearing white gloves and Mary Janes and going to dancing school, that no one should have to dance backward all their lives.” ~ Corporate Board Member & Environmental Consultant Jill Ruckelshaus
"Imperfection is beauty. Madness is genius. And it’s better to be absolutely ridiculous than absolutely boring. And when it comes down to it, I let them think what they want. If they care enough to bother with what I do, I’m already better than them…" ~ Actress & Cultural Icon Marilyn Monroe
"I'm tough. I'm ambitious. And I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay." ~ Singer "Madonna" Ciccone
“Why do people say, ‘Grow some balls’? Balls are weak and sensitive! If you really wanna get tough, grow a vagina! Those things take a pounding!” ~ Actress Betty White
"If you're going to make an error, make a doozy. And don't be afraid to hit the ball." ~ Star Tennis Player Billie Jean King
"I see no reason why a woman can't throw as effectively as a man. There are a lot of statements about anatomical differences, but there is not much documented evidence. Maybe we're really talking about poorly skilled people. People with poor athletic skills tend to throw poorly." ~ Linda Zwiren, Director of the Human Performance Laboratory, Hofstra University, 1976
"If it's true that men are better than women because they're stronger, why aren't our sumo wrestlers in the government?" ~ Japanese Political Activist (1800's) Kishida Toshiko
"If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want anything done, ask a woman." ~ Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
"Why is it men are permitted to be obsessed about their work, but women are only permitted to be obsessed about men?" ~ Singer Barbara Streisand
"Some of us are becoming the men we wanted to marry." ~ Author & Publisher Gloria Steinem
"We are the women men warned us about." ~ Civil Rights & Anti-War Activist Robin Morgan
"Get it right: I'm not a humanitarian. I'm a hell-raiser." ~ Labor & Community Organizer "Mother" Jones
“Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force.” ~ Writer Dorothy L. Sayres
"Don't talk to me about rules, dear. Wherever I stay, I make the goddam rules." ~ Opera diva Maria Callas