*W9 The Erotic as Power
- Mat Wenzel
- Oct 30, 2018
- 1 min read
Comment below with your response to Audre Lorde's "Uses of the Erotic."
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Instructor: Mat Wenzel, MFA, M.Ed.
E-Mail: mwenzel@fsu.edu
Office: WMS 331
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Lorde’s piece was different from what I expected it to be. She took the erotic and used it in a completely different way, and in a sense put it in a new light. She makes it more about the connection that one has with the erotic rather than making it all about the physical aspect of it. She also really puts an emphasis on how the erotic is not something one can experience unless they are present in that moment. She also emphasizes that in a way women should use this as a tool of empowerment, so they feel confident in themselves.
First off, I would like to appreciate the barriers Lorde brings down in her writing of "Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power". To write a piece of this subject matter as a woman, as a black woman, is significant. Women are societally hushed on subjects such as sex or erotica; many people consider women exploring their sexuality as "defiant" or even "against morality." I personally like to research the authors of the texts I read, and off the bat, I was excited to begin reading what an empowered woman had to say about using the erotic as power. As I continued reading and discovered the author was a lesbian, the reading experience from her POV became all the…
Andre Lorde makes the assertion that eroticism is not necessarily linked specifically to sex. In fact, she says that false representations of the erotic, such as pornography, are the antithesis of eroticism. Porn is not an acceptance, celebration, or documentation of eroticism—it is the rejection and suppression of it. The erotic is "a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings" (54). It functions in a number of ways, according to Lorde. First, it is a source of power. This power comes from the the deep and shared pursuit of anything with another person. Second, it is a revelation of Lorde's capacity for joy. Through acts of eroticism, including (as she says)…
In Audre Lorde's "Uses of the Erotic," she dives into the idea of eroticism as it relates to her own experiences. She draws comparison between the male and female experience, in the sense that the world of eroticism is generally dominated by men. She draws on her own life, as a black, queer, woman who is very much in touch with her erotic side. In this essay, Lorde discusses the adversity that she has faced in the world of eroticism, which has generally stemmed from our living in a "racist, patriarchal, and anti-erotic society."
She also highlights important differences between pornography and eroticism, which are often misconstrued as being interchangeable terms. She describes pornography as something that essentially neglects the…