User:Hhbeech/sandbox

Audre Lorde
Audre Lorde (1934-1992) is best known for her work as an, "American poet, essayist, and autobiographer known for her passionate writings on lesbian feminism and racial issues" Her powerful writing included over a dozen publications in the form of poetry and essays, winning multiple national and international awards for her writing, and was one of the primary founders of Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. She has also been hailed as, " The Black feminist, lesbian, poet, mother, and warrior." Other famous poems and essays written by Lorde include :


 * A Burst Of Light
 * The Black Unicorn
 * Between Ourselves
 * Cables To Rage
 * The Cancer Journals
 * The First Cities
 * From A Land Where Other People Live
 * I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities
 * Lesbian Party: An Anthology
 * Need: A Chorale For Black Women Voices
 * The New York Head Shop And Museum
 * Our Dead Behind Us: Poems
 * Sister Outsider: Essays And Speeches
 * The Marvelous Arithmetics Of Distance: Poems
 * Undersong: Chosen Poems Old And New
 * Uses Of The Erotic: The Erotic As Power
 * Woman Poet—The East
 * Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

The Erotic as Power
According to Young (2012), the term "Erotic" discussed by Audre Lorde has often been misrepresented and used as a tool to over-sexualize and under value women in a patriarchal society. While this term is often synonymous with pornography, it was meant to provide liberation for women, a freedom that can be found from self reflection and human connection with other woman. The primary mechanism of oppression, is found in the misuse and understanding of systemic power structures that continue to oppress women in their voice and expression of self