The following is a response paper to the text “The Master’s Tool Will Never Dismantle The Master’s House”, by Audre Lorde, an African American lesbian feminist. She was also a writer who fought in the Civl Rights Movement. This text was written in 1984, eight years before her death and it was an essay answering to an event that took place in a conference in New York. The essay analyzes the role of minorities in the Academia and reflects about the concept of sorority and intersectionality in feminism. One of the points of the text that I found most interesting was her claim that sorority and the bonds created between women are the only way for empowerment.…
The characterization, in The House on Mango Street, of Esperanza’s great-grandmother and Rafaela is used to convey how women were inferior to men in Esperanza’s society. According to Esperanza, her great-grandmother was a very wild woman. That is why she refused to marry until a man “threw a sack over her head and carried her off” (Cisneros, 11). This shows how unimportant women are, of that time, that a man could kidnap a woman and she could do nothing, no matter how wild she was. Also, despite her wild personality, Esperanza’s great-grandmother shows how women could be forced into marriage without a say in who they marry. Like Esperanza’s great-grandmother, Rafaela has many hopes such as dancing at the dance hall or bar. However, she never…
Audre Lorde’s piece “The Uses of Anger” is written in direct reference to the racism colored women face, specifically black women. Her main argument is that black women are angry about the ample ways they are mistreated and ignored and how black women should use that fuel of anger to stand together, act, and create change in our society. This piece was written in 1981, a period of time where new policies were placed to make African American women with children dependent on public assistance, furthermore meaning that they didn’t have sufficient funds to partake in extracurricular activities such as conventions. This is relevant because Lorde references that by stating how the convention advocates for responding to racism however they refuse…
In describing all of the current issues the modern day world has pertaining to women, it shows that for every step forward comes right back. Women still suffer wage difference, put up with racism, and above all encounter sexism far worse than men ever have. The efforts of society to, as Aude Lorde would say, control and…
Feminism has been born through decades of ignorance and misguidance, a perception of a weaker sex, and a belief that equality is not truly meant for all. Because of this deprivation of equality and privileges that exist exclusively for men, decades of work have been put forth from the feminist movement to ensure that no woman will any longer be held back or have opportunities revoked simply for having the status of a “weaker” gender. Before taking this class, I was hesitant to ever label myself in such a manner and questioned those who had, but after reading Penny Weiss’ revealing piece “I am not a feminist, but …” I no longer have that same reluctance.…
Feminist issues are not and never will be “one size fits all.” What is important to the masses cannot be defined by the few of a common identity; the current hegemony of white feminists leading the movement has resulted in a cause solely concentrated on the challenges they find pressing. Minority feminist groups have felt marginalized from the progression of feminism, and often go undocumented for building a premise of racially tolerant political action groups. The phrase “multiracial feminism” is defined as feminism based on the examination of dominance through understanding social constructs of race, ethnicity, tradition, and culture (Thompson, 33). Moreover, each…
“Feminist criticism derives from a critique of a history of oppression, in this case the history of women’s inequality” (Mays 2347). Women have always been second to men in mostly everything they are competing in. Even if the man and woman have the exact same job, the man is probably making more money just because he is a man. Women barely got the chance to vote less than fifty years ago! Women still have a long way to go to catch up where the men are, because men have always had a say in how to do things, and the woman would just agree about what he had said. Feminist are here to change all of that though. With protests showing women are equally compatible to do the same thing as men can do. “One of the first disciplines…
Margret Atwood’s “Spotty-Handed Villainesses”, is an Epideictic speech on equality that creates enough integrity in regards to not only its technical features but also how it explores meaning and value to exceed its immediate context and maintain relevance in today’s society. Atwood’s speech was delivered in 1994 at the time when feminism and feminist views were a hot topic. A paradox in her speech is that she supports feminism however disapproves with extremist, feminist views.…
Feminism. Arguably one of the most misunderstood terms to date. In order to move forward and grow as a society, feminism is vital. Of course, sexism still exists and I doubt, there will ever be a time in history where it does not; much like racism- but generally, we have come a long way. The road for equal rights has been a long and sometimes, dangerous one as can be observed through texts such as Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Robert Browning's My Last Duchess Sarah Gavron’s Suffragette and Charlotte Perkins-Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. This idea of gender inequality can be readily observed through the aforementioned texts and in fact, many others, regardless of the era in which they were first written. Women being treated as possessions,…
general. I will examine how these categories influence one other, how these categories influence feminism, and how feminism, in turn, influences them, along with how these categories affect women. Specifically, I will argue that the construction of the 'normative', which helps produce feminist theory discourse and action, perpetually reproduces categories of exclusion, through the notions of representation and identity politics, the production of a split between gender and sex, and through Butlers views on gender and performativity.…
For thousands of years human societies have functioned with various forms of social injustice and oppression. But the largest and most long lasting system of oppression is the patriarchal system. In which, women are not afforded the same economic, social, and educational opportunities as men. For example, in America today full time female workers still only make seventy-eight cents for over dollar their male coworkers make (Hill 1). However the tireless work of women’s rights advocated like Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Alice Paul has led to landmark equality legislation and real measurable strides towards greater gender equality. Because…
Both Adichie and Lorde “acknowledge that women have variable experiences that differ in extremism and also in form” (Gatwiri and McLaren 202). Therefore, they both try not to generalize; instead, they call people to study their identities. Both Gatwiri and McLaren, authors of “Discovering my own Black Feminism: Embarking on a Journey to explore Kenyan Women’s Oppression,” claim that women often “feel the constant pressure to justify [their] views” (203). This particular claim relates to both Adichie and Lorde’s point that women have to prove their worth. Moreover, Gatwiri and McLaren support Adichie and Lorde’s argument that the West conceptualizes “third world Black women as being in need” (203). In this sense, all four authors agree on the…
As constantly seen throughout history, women have been battling and questioning society’s standard so they can be seen as individuals rather than a lesser being in comparison to men. These civil liberties of owning property and having the right to vote prolongs further than that. Women want to be seen in the same degree as men when it comes down having an education, a place in office, being in a predominantly male workforce, and the right to manage their reproductive lives. The fight for women's rights even extends to modern day with the rise of feminism and the demand that men and women should be considered equal in any social, political, and economic entities.…
In recent events, the word feminism has come up and a new debate has begun to circle around what it means, and how it should be applied to our society today. From statements made by celebrities, as a theme in a popular Beyonce song, and exposed emails from within the film industry, feminism is enjoying somewhat of a renaissance in the form of exposure to a new generation. While most people would agree that any discussion about feminism is good, there is also a circulation of misguided or false ideas of what feminism actually is. Additionally, there have been very public instances that prove that we still have some progress to make in the form of equality feminism aims to bring to various groups of people. Feminist Magazine defines feminism as the movement that “strives to end the discrimination, exploitation, and oppression of people due to their gender, sexual orientation, race, class, and other differences and supports people in being free to determine their own lives for themselves.”…
The oppressed must face their reality and act upon it. Both genders must realize that they are a part of the patriarchy, and were taught how to behave based on their genders. It is a longstanding institution that people are born into and participate in unconsciously. The patriarchy convinces people that gender roles have always existed and that there is no room for change. There, however, is always room for…