Will Never Dismantle The Master's House Summary
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. In a patriarchal world where women are taught to compete with each other it is very
important that they join forces to fight the social structure that oppresses them. However, in order to do that, as Lorde says, it is essential that not only do women from the same circles join, but a real intersectional community where women are supported even in themes that do not affect them directly. Her idea that women’s differences do not set them apart, but should make women feel closer to each other is a topic that is still being highly debated with the problem of white feminism, where black women, trans women, women with mental issues or women with reduced mobility are not being included in the mainstream discussions and whose problems are still being ignored. It is also important to acknowledge the lack of representation that these groups face in the academia. As the text explains, Lorde attended a discussion where only two black women were invited and it was only a last minute call. In a world where Academia is one of the institutions that help shape the public’s opinion in Universities and schools, if the people providing this knowledge (specially with topics regarding issues that could be considered controversial in certain areas) are not aware of all the different realities, the people learning from them will be equally ignorant as well. In conclusion, the fact that Lorde’s discourse is still relevant more than thirty years after it was written, helps to make people understand that some groups still face the same problems as they did years ago and that there is still a long way to go to achieve the purpose that have been pursued for generations.
important that they join forces to fight the social structure that oppresses them. However, in order to do that, as Lorde says, it is essential that not only do women from the same circles join, but a real intersectional community where women are supported even in themes that do not affect them directly. Her idea that women’s differences do not set them apart, but should make women feel closer to each other is a topic that is still being highly debated with the problem of white feminism, where black women, trans women, women with mental issues or women with reduced mobility are not being included in the mainstream discussions and whose problems are still being ignored. It is also important to acknowledge the lack of representation that these groups face in the academia. As the text explains, Lorde attended a discussion where only two black women were invited and it was only a last minute call. In a world where Academia is one of the institutions that help shape the public’s opinion in Universities and schools, if the people providing this knowledge (specially with topics regarding issues that could be considered controversial in certain areas) are not aware of all the different realities, the people learning from them will be equally ignorant as well. In conclusion, the fact that Lorde’s discourse is still relevant more than thirty years after it was written, helps to make people understand that some groups still face the same problems as they did years ago and that there is still a long way to go to achieve the purpose that have been pursued for generations.