4.5
Sister Outsider
By Audre Lorde & Cheryl ClarkePublisher Description
Presenting the essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature.
“[Lorde's] works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive, intelligent, and aware.”—The New York Times
In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope. This commemorative edition includes a new foreword by Lorde-scholar and poet Cheryl Clarke, who celebrates the ways in which Lorde's philosophies resonate more than twenty years after they were first published.
These landmark writings are, in Lorde's own words, a call to “never close our eyes to the terror, to the chaos which is Black which is creative which is female which is dark which is rejected which is messy which is . . . ”
“[Lorde's] works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive, intelligent, and aware.”—The New York Times
In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action and change. Her prose is incisive, unflinching, and lyrical, reflecting struggle but ultimately offering messages of hope. This commemorative edition includes a new foreword by Lorde-scholar and poet Cheryl Clarke, who celebrates the ways in which Lorde's philosophies resonate more than twenty years after they were first published.
These landmark writings are, in Lorde's own words, a call to “never close our eyes to the terror, to the chaos which is Black which is creative which is female which is dark which is rejected which is messy which is . . . ”
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities839 Reviews
4.5
L. Alex A Henry
Created 14 days agoShare
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“Reading this feels like the writing is undeniable; it refuses to be dismissed, it will not be denied, it says, “I am inevitable.”
And I am blown away.
Sister Outsider is a collection of 15 essays — they explore social movements and all the fascinating nuances within, like intersectionality, empowerment, identity, and resistance.
************************
For myself:
Personal reading notes jotted down for each essay
1. Notes from a Trip to Russia - part travelogue, part sociopolitical analysis, and part personal reflection on her encounters with Russian people and society, reflecting on cultural differences, the impact of the Cold War, and her status as an African-American lesbian feminist in a place very different from the U.S. Basically, Lorde asks, How does national ideology, race, sexuality, and gender shape one’s experience in Russia? It's a nuanced, highly observant, intersectional exploration of how identities/societal narratives intersect/influence our understanding of equality and freedom across cultural borders.
2. Poetry Is Not a Luxury - very short essay on poetry as essential for personal and political transformation, and as a source for knowledge, emotion, and power, and a tool for driving ideas and dreams into action and change, especially for women and the marginalized.
3. The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action - “Your silence will not protect you.” An essay on the power of speaking out, the dangers of remaining silent. Fear silences people, but silence is costly because it inhibits self-expression, stifles potential change, and allows oppression to go unchallenged. Lorde argues that the act of speaking out is a revolutionary step, especially for the marginalized.
4. Scratching the Surface: Some Notes on Barriers to Women and Loving - explores the barriers (systemic oppression, like racism, sexism, and homophobia) that prevent genuine connections and solidarity among women, especially women of color. Internalized oppression often disrupts relationships among women by setting up divisions based on race, class, and sexual orientation, and these divisions are reinforced by our patriarchal system, which benefits from women being pitted against each other, and separation and mistrust among women. In order to challenge oppression at its roots, women need to be aware of power structures that keep them isolated from one another.
Fave quote:
“This jugular vein psychology is based on the fallacy that your assertion of affirmation of self is an attack upon my self – or that my defining myself will somehow prevent or retard you self-definition.”
5. Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power - Lorde argues women have been taught to suppress or fear the erotic because society has defined it in narrow, purely sexual terms that serve male-dominated power structures.
6. Sexism: An American Disease in Blackface - really eloquent discussion of intersectionality — how sexism manifests within the context of the Black community, often causing Black women to face double the oppression (both as women, and as Black people). Lorde points out the dangers of dismissing or minimizing gender oppression within the Black liberation struggle, since these patriarchal structures harm both oppressed men and women.
Fave quotes:
"Oppressors always expect the oppressed to extend to them the understanding so lacking in themselves.”
"If Black men continue to define "femininity" instead of their own desires, and do it in archaic European terms, they restrict our access to each other's energies. Freedom and future for Blacks does not mean absorbing the dominant white male disease of sexism."
7. An Open Letter to Mary Daly - a direct address to Mary Daly, feminist scholar and philosopher, critiquing her exclusion of BIPOC women (e.g. in her work, Gyn/Ecology). Exclusionary feminism (in other words, one that fails to account for intersectionality), cripples the impact of the movement. Lorde calls for solidarity and to embrace diversity, arguing that true liberation cannot occur without intersectional feminism to build a more inclusive and unified movement.
8. Man Child: A Black Lesbian Feminist’s Response - A response to Claude Brown’s Man Child in the Promised Land (autobiography of a Harlem upbringing/memoir on Black masculinity). Lorde points out blind spots in the book’s discussions on the struggles of young Black men in America, particularly how it largely ignores the role that patriarchy plays in shaping these men’s lives and behaviors, the role gendered expectations play in harming both Black men and women, and the neglect of Black women’s experiences in his narrative. Lorde calls for more inclusive discussions around race, gender, and identity within the Black freedom movement, and points out how some Black male narratives can perpetuate patriarchal views.
9. An Interview: Audre Lorde and Adrienne Rich - discussions on Lorde’s intersectional feminism (aka the view that race, gender, etc. all shape one’s lived experiences) vs. Rich’s more 'universal' feminist perspective. They also reinforce the earlier idea of poetry as an act of resistance. Both feminists, Lorde and Rich's different viewpoints are a really significant example of acknowledging the variance that exists within the feminist movement, while showing how solidarity among women of different backgrounds enriches discussions and helps us move forward.
10. The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House - Lorde critiques traditional feminist strategies that often fail to address intersectionality, largely because they are established by those in power (white, cisgender, heterosexual, middle-class), which means they cannot effectively dismantle systems of inequality that they themselves benefit from. Basically, the limitations of mainstream feminism are that they center around white, privileged women while excluding women of color, working-class women, queer/LBGTQ+ women. Instead, recognizing and celebrating difference as a source of strength in our collective liberation efforts is needed, rejecting hierarchies within feminist movements.
11. Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference - discusses how identity plays a role in defining feminism, aka through systems of oppression like ageism, racism, classism, and sexism. Moving away from homogenized, exclusionary perspectives in feminism will require celebrating differences (finding solidarity within diversity), and recognizing that the experience of oppression is multifaceted and varied. True liberation requires a broad/inclusive understanding of difference, not the suppression or erasure of it.
12. The Uses of Anger: Women Responding to Racism - explores how anger can be a productive/constructive tool in the search for equality and for justice. The essay is a critique on how society tends to look to suppress the anger of women (and other marginalized people), for example portraying it as “undesirable”, “unladylike”, and in other negative lights. Despite this narrative, Lorde says that anger is a legitimate & powerful response to injustice/racism, and that even though society wants to repress it (to keep the oppressed in check), expressing it constructively is important, to prevent both white supremacy (and other oppressive systems) from marginalizing / silencing the voices of women of color.
13. Learning from the 60s - a reflection on the successes and also the limitations of the political and social movements of the 1960s. Strengths: empowering certain groups. Weaknesses: Alienating others, especially women, queer people, and individuals from marginalized communities within larger political struggles. Lorde argues this in part was due to the male-dominated leadership of these 1960s movements, leading to a lack of attention on intersecting oppressions outside of white men. Lorde argues activism goes beyond single-issue struggles.
14. Eye to Eye: Black Women, Hatred, and Anger - an unfortunately still-relevant exploration of how society silences, dismisses, stereotypes, and misinterprets Black women when they express anger and similar emotions, arguing these emotions are not only legitimate but rational reactions to the oppressive systems endured. Lorde acknowledges the destructive potential of anger when not channeled into productive action (for example, with the destructive effects of internalized racism, sexism, and classism on Black women’s self-worth, and how this can lead to self-hatred and tensions within their own communities), but also stresses that when used correctly, anger can be a tool for positive social change, for collective strength and solidarity, and that we can help support and empower Black women in reclaiming their emotional power, and resist the cultural and societal pressures that seek to silence/delegitimize their anger.
15. Grenada Revisited: An Interim Report - Grenada post-1983 U.S. invasion. Lorde contrasts her idealistic hopes for Grenada’s revolution and the brutality/reality of the U.S.’s intervention and their imperialist role in the Caribbean and, more broadly, in the global South. Lorde stresses the importance of international solidarity across revolutionary movements, especially as often-disruptive and self-interested forces of Western power seek to undermine genuine efforts at self-determination. Thematically, this essay reminds me a lot of https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6952839638 , especially b/c both Lorde and Fanon critique imperialism, discuss the challenges of revolution, and write about the ongoing struggles for liberation in post-colonial societies.”
Sofia Brohez
Created 16 days agoShare
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“JEJEJEJEJEJE LOPPUUUUUU
Okkk eli tää oli kokonaisuutena hyvä kirja, tosi kiinnostava ja opin paljon asioista, joita en olisi muuten ikinä varmaan tiennyt. Mul vaan kesti ikuisuus lukea tää, koska mun suomenkielen osaaminen on nii huono. Myös eka essee oli niiii pitkä ja sekava mikä sit vähensi mun motivaatiota.”
Makaela Hayward
Created 23 days agoShare
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About Audre Lorde
A writer, activist, and mother of two, Audre Lorde grew up in 1930s Harlem. She earned a master’s degree in library science from Columbia University, received a National Endowment for the Arts grant for poetry, and was New York State’s Poet Laureate from 1991 to 1993. She is the author of twelve books, including Zami and The Black Unicorn. Lorde died of cancer at the age of fifty-eight in 1992.
Other books by Audre Lorde
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