week 5
Lorde's piece was largely about identifying herself, and how society encourages people to identify themselves in terms of singular differences. Lorde's position, that of being both black and a lesbian, offers a relatively easy way to examine how this plays out. She is both oppressed as a black person, and as a lesbian, but the contexts in which these occur can be every different. In a social gather of women, it is unlikely she would be made to feel out of place as a woman, however, she can still be alienated and made uncomfortable via her lesbianism.
Lorde would argue that The Patriarchy is the part of the problem that we need to change in oder to fix the problems that are. She goes so far as to say that the future of our earth may on new definitions of power and new ways of relating across difference. Our current definitions are part of the problem, and are part of the current basis of The System (The Patriarchy). Lorde argues that the system that we created, is actually something that we need to break ourselves free from in order to rid this world of oppression. This also implies the construction of a new power system, which must in turn be based on different values then our current system. While I used the word “patriarchy� Lorde recognized this for more then just oppression of females, but also of oppression based on various difference, such as lesbianism.