Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference (Lorde)
I learned something from reading Lorde’s text this week. In the stirring essay Women Redefining Difference, women are urged to band together, create a strong movement, and identify oppressions beyond sexism. Lorde accomplishes this by speaking from a black lesbian perspective, which sheds light on issues that have gone unnoticed and dispel many myths and assumptions that both black and white women hold. Lorde explains how class and race are frequently linked with producing various forms of literature, outlining some issues that sustain a flawed system of handling differences. Poetry, which Lorde claims many people consider to be a less severe or rigorous art form, contrasts with prose. Lorde’s identity, which she reveals in this text, Lorde’s identity is a complex amalgam of many various elements, as she explains here. In this particular instance, the inclusion of a poem at the end of the prose demonstrates the author’s distaste for restrictions on her writing and the way she presents herself in general. Lorde writes in the passage that others frequently encourage her to showcase one aspect of her identity and give it an accurate representation of who she is as a whole. One of Lorde’s main points is that everyone has been taught to react to difference with “fear and loathing” and to deal with it.
The Combahee River Collective Statement
From what I learned about reading, this is that Between 1974 and 1980, a Black Feminist Lesbian group called the Combahee River Collective operated. They collectively joined forces to develop the Combahee River Collective Statement, a key document in developing contemporary Black Feminism. This intersectional group was founded because they felt that neither the feminist movement nor the civil rights movement adequately addressed the needs of Black women and lesbians. They have been working on defining and clarifying their politics during that time and conducting political work within our own group and in collaboration with other progressive movements and organizations. The broadest summary of our political philosophy at the moment would be that we are actively committed to fighting against heterosexual, sexual, and racial.
Momo Pixel , Hair Nah
Hair Nah is a fun game that is video game about a black woman tired of people touching her hair. The game is played via motion captured without using joysticks and buttons. I feel like this game shows what black women are going through compared to white women because white women’s hair is seen as normal, so they had it easier because black women’s hair was different, so their hair was seen as nappy.
Keywords- Feminist, Feminism, Oppression
Question: Did this week help you understand the struggles that black women go thought?
I already knew what black women have gone through, but as I was reading the readings and listneing to the videos it gave me even more of understanding of what black women have wenr through, and what they all had to endure thorugh race, class, and sex. I basically see things more better now than before.
I don’t think I will be able to fully understand the struggles that black women experience, but the readings definitely gave me more insight. I thought the video game was a simple, but effective way of demonstrating the frustration one would feel over having their hair constantly poked and prodded at.
While I may never be able to understand the struggles, I think I have been given a new perspective on their struggles. Especially from Oluo’s video. I think I might go and watch the entire thing just because I felt like she had so much to say that I need to hear.