Blog Five
Similar to Johnsons “Plus Five� system, Lorde explains that performing gender requires an accumulation of age, race, class, sexuality, and gender. Lorde, being a black lesbian, is oppressed by men because she is a woman and also by heterosexual women because she is a lesbian. When analyzing this performed gender, many aspects of the person are looked at, not just whether they look male or female. Therefore, age, race, class, and sexuality all limit the performed gender.
Lorde does not think that patriarchy is the primary form of oppression. Lorde, much like Frye, is trying to explain the origin of oppression; what types of people oppress and for what reasons they oppress the “Black and Third World people, working class people, older people, and women. She explains that oppression by men is not the only form of oppression. To go back to her example of being a black lesbian, she is oppressed by men but she is also oppressed by white women because of her sexual preference. As I understand it, she is stating that oppression can be performed by anyone even those that are a part of an oppressed group. Oppression is not only performed by the patriarchal group.
Because she is a lesbian of color, Lorde’s analysis of gender and power has more detail rather than just men have more power than women. She explains that sexual preference and race also play into the power that is associated with gender. Lesbianism was once thought to be only a “white woman’s problem�. Lorde explains that many black lesbians are less likely to express themselves freely because they will be thought of as being “less black� as a result of their sexual preference.