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Few authors have asserted the capacity for literature to transform society for the better like Audre Lorde. A “Black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” Lorde’s work is an empowering manifesto to the importance of recognizing and embracing differences between individuals as a crucial method in shaping and rebuilding society (( “Audre Lorde.” Wikipedia. March 18, 2022. )). In particular, Lorde eloquently confronts racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism in her work, asserting the need for marginalized people to connect with their inner power.
Sister Outsider, a collection of Lorde’s essays and speeches, is a timelessly relevant ode to embracing one’s true identity for all of its characteristics, whether they involve one’s race, gender, or sexuality. Lorde affirms and reaffirms the beauty in difference and calls to action her readers and peers to recognize it in their work and lives. In Sister Outsider, Audre Lorde explores how accepting her divine feminine power and queerness particularly strengthened her voice as a poet, ultimately asserting the transformative potential of embracing one’s unique identity through her reclamation of the “Erotic” and description of queer existence.
A Brief Biography Of Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde was a poet, a librarian, a feminist, and a civil rights activist. Born on February 18th, 1934 in New York City to Caribbean parents, Lorde preferred using poetry as a means to communicate at a young age. Upon studying at the National University of Mexico in 1954, Lorde experienced a time of what she described as “affirmation and renewal” that helped confirm her identity and profession as a lesbian poet (( “Audre Lorde.” Wikipedia. March 18, 2022. )). Lorde then studied at Hunter College and pursued a career as a librarian while also writing and participating in the gay culture of Greenwich Village.
Lorde’s poetry was published throughout the 1960s in several literary journals and magazines centered around Black art. Some of her earlier published volumes of poetry are The First Cities, released in 1968, and Cables to Rage, issued in 1970. These volumes focused largely on Lorde’s life experiences from motherhood to her sexuality. Lorde then published From a Land Where Other People Live in 1973, which captured her trials with her identity and frustration regarding social justice. From a Land Where Other People Live earned Lorde a nomination for the National Book Award (( “Audre Lorde.” Wikipedia. March 18, 2022. )).
While Lorde’s previous publications were successful, the release of Coal solidified her status as an influential figure in the Black Arts Movement. Featuring poems from Lorde’s prior poetry volumes, Coal marked some of the major themes that would come to define Lorde’s career, regarding her celebration of the Black identity, her rage at social injustice, and her calls for intersectional feminist efforts (( “Audre Lorde.” Wikipedia. March 18, 2022. )).
Lorde was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1978 and reflected her experiences and thoughts from treatment throughout The Cancel Journals and A Burst of Light. In 1982, Lorde published Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, which captures moments from her life and the growth she experienced while connecting with her identity and sexuality. Sister Outsider was published in 1984, and soon became one of Audre Lorde’s most notable works of art for its collection of deeply powerful and evocative essays that progress conversations on sexual identity, race, gender, and class divides.
In Sister Outsider, Lorde parallels her personal experience and insight with the impact that acknowledging these aspects had on her and her work. Sister Outsider encourages the idea of recognizing the differences between groups of people as strengths in enriching one another’s perspectives and bettering society as a whole. Lorde continued to write many notable poems and essays throughout her life while advocating for social reform. In 1992, Lorde died of breast cancer at fifty-eight years old; her voice and work profoundly influenced the third-wave feminist movement in the U.S. through her critiques of “first-world feminism” and support for intersectional efforts.
Transformative Themes In Sister Outsider
At the core of Lorde’s Sister Outsider is the writer’s running faith in literature’s ability to express the perspectives of those who are estranged by the culture of the United States. Sister Outsider offers countless lessons regarding self-exploration and affirmation throughout its collection of essays and speeches, focusing on feminine power and queerness as two aspects of identity that offer great potential for change.
In Sister Outsider, Lorde asserts that the most effective way of reshaping American society for the better is to embrace the differences between groups that have long been weaponized against them. Feminine power and queer identity are two characteristics that can effectively enhance our perception of ourselves and others and lead us to think about how society may be different. The title Sister Outsider embodies this idea of difference as strength, as Lorde defines herself by the multiplicity of her identity which enriches her perspective, and serves as a catalyst for change.
The Divine Feminine Power Of The Erotic
Lorde’s belief in women and recognizing female strength lends credence to her notion of a power lying dormant in all women. This concept is first explored in the novel through the essay “Poetry is Not a Luxury,” in which Lorde writes, “For each of us as women, there is a dark place within, where hidden and growing our true spirit rises” (Lorde 36). This quote posits Lorde’s first description of what she later comes to label the “Erotic,” an underlying power that is dark and ancient and present for all women.
“Poetry is Not a Luxury” pinpoints the need to harness this inner power due to it holding “an incredible reserve of creativity and power” that can only be expressed through poetry. Lorde argues that poetry is an essential duty or method for women to use to connect and represent that inner power that challenges the status quo. Poetry translates one’s innermost feelings, hopes, and fears into calls for action of what we “dare make real,” and it is an instrumental tool in women’s survival and resilience (Lorde 39)
“Uses of the Erotic” takes Lorde’s notion of the ancient female energy even further, naming it the “Erotic.” Lorde describes the Erotic as “firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling,” asserting that the Erotic encapsulates the emotions and feelings that have long been suppressed and belittled (Lorde 53). By reclaiming the Erotic as a power through which women may trust their deeper feelings and intuition, Lorde argues that “erotic knowledge empowers us” and enables people to reevaluate the systems to which they adhere and abide by (Lorde 57).
In other words, “Uses of the Erotic” posits that when women identify and connect with the feelings that they are societally compelled to ignore and belittle, then they will be empowered to think of how they can be more fulfilled and happy with their lives. It is due to this great potential for change that Lorde argues that the Erotic is estranged as something only related to sex or pornography, rather than being a force of creative power and love in all aspects. “Uses of the Erotic” refutes the vilification of the Erotic and reclaims it as a source of divine feminine power that has been ostracized by the status quo.
Accepting Queer Identity As An Empowering Difference
Lorde’s poetry and prose frequently explore how her acceptance of her sexuality as a personal strength enriched her life and vision. Lorde often refers to her identity as a Black, lesbian poet throughout the text, underlining her affirmation of herself despite the disregard and dehumanization she’s experienced and observed. For Lorde and those like her who were “forged in the crucibles of difference,” survival means learning how to take differences and make them strengths (Lorde 112).
This self-validation is echoed in Lorde’s definition of queerness, with her responding to “antilesbian hysteria” through asserting the long-term existence and tenacity of queer women: “Yet women-identified women — those who sought their own destinies and attempted to execute them in the absence of male support – have been around in all of our communities for a long time” (Lorde 49). Lorde’s use of the phrase “women-identified women” in this quote implicitly stands in for the term “lesbians,” with Lorde equating sexuality to women exercising and realizing their own agency.
Queerness for women may therefore be interpreted as the pursuit and belief in one’s own agency and bond with other women despite the alienation and indifference one experiences from men in the process. This definition of queerness is significant as it frames women’s sexuality as different from the heterosexual mainstream way of living, yet also implicates how this experience of divergence ultimately develops one’s perspective through self-realization and empowerment.
Lorde’s definition of queerness is crucial in better understanding the writer’s advocation for the acceptance of difference as a positive force, as she argues that nonconformity is the key to challenging the status quo and changing it for the better. In the essay “Master’s Tools,” Lorde posits that people “forged in the crucibles of difference” — such as queer women — learn “how to stand alone” as well as “how to make common cause” with other people who are excluded from primary social structures, ultimately helping them actively work “to define and seek a world in which [they] can all flourish” (Lorde 112) ((Lorde, Audre. Sister Outsider. New York, Crown Publishing Group, 2007. )). With these examples as well as Lorde’s definition of queerness in mind, it is evident that Lorde sees the quality of difference as a monumentally powerful force in fostering a new way of life that rejects the antiquated and discriminatory structure of the U.S. In this way, Lorde redefines difference in terms of how it may bring people together through their shared experiences and identities.
Sister Outsider’s Impact
There are many important themes and messages contained within Sister Outsider that have influenced conversations regarding feminism, racial equity, and gay rights. Through her portrayal of queer identity and the Erotic as a divine female power, Lorde shows how our lives may be deeply enriched through self-reflection. For Lorde, connecting with the Erotic and her queer identity played a strong role in her writing, with her encouraging people to create change and believe in themselves through these themes.
Sister Outsider posits that there is no greater way of enacting change than connecting with one’s identity and acknowledging its difference from others. The difference between identities makes them no less important, but rather serves as an inherent strength in recognizing how society may better serve and include everyone. From its publication to now, Sister Outsider remains a deeply inspiring and relevant read.
