WEEK FIVE
Lorde’s idea of a “mythical norm� resembles Johnsons “+5�, but a little more expanded. She adds thin and young to the system. Lorde’s gender identification is an indication of position as an oppressed woman because she is female and therefore is oppressed by male. She is a “Black� female and therefore oppressed by not only male, but also women who believe “white� is dominant. She is a lesbian female, and therefore oppressed not only by male, and white female but also by the African American woman. She says that the way the “norms� are defined in America, each one of us knows that “that’s not me.�
I think Lorde thinks patriarchy is the primary oppression, but in order for us to have a social change we must fix these other oppressions that really shouldn’t be happening. There are all these subcategories of patriarchy that make it difficult to bring social change. She says as women “we must root out internalized patterns of oppression within ourselves if we are to move beyond the most superficial aspects of social change.�
Lorde is even being oppressed by her “sisters.� African American women do not agree with Lorde’s identification as lesbian. That is something that should be left for the “whites.� It seems to them that she is betraying the community. Then Lorde says the sisterhood does not even exist. She has to fight oppression by man, in a different level or situation because she is different.