Enrique Irizarry
Jeannina Perez
WST 3015


ABSTRACT:
Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power
“To encourage excellence is to go beyond the encouraged mediocrity of our society. To go beyond the encouraged mediocrity of our society is to encourage excellence.”
-Audre Lorde

In her essay titled, “Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power,” Audre Lorde points to the importance of the erotic while clearing up the mainstream idea of what the erotic is and what it is not. Lorde emphasis what the erotic is not. The erotic is not a mindset that women have, which allows them to want to be engaged in sexual activity such as pornography or anything related to obscene material. What the mainstream idea believes the erotic is made of is completely contradictory to what it actually is. According to Lorde, the erotic is a state of mind and realization that women reach within themselves and bring outward in order to finally live their lives to the fullest. With this newly found discovery of the true erotic come benefits. Audre Lorde states some of the benefits from the erotic that she experiences are as follows: the erotic allows women to have the power to share deep information, for any reason, with another person. Second, the erotic allows Lorde to share any information of joy through all forms such as: physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual. One of the biggest ways the erotic helps Lorde is through the “fearless” odyssey of searching for joy. Furthermore, the erotic is the capacity for feeling which does not necessarily have to come with strings attach. One of the most profound findings of the erotic is the ability to experience joy without such add-ons as marriage, an after-life or any other external sources. Unfortunately, as Lorde also indicates, the journey of the erotic is an internal struggle. Lorde notes that most women who live under the typical European-American male tradition find it hard to reach their full scope as women and the erotic. In the patriarchy system that many of these women live in, most are bombarded with fears of not believing in such a life style due to racism and anti-erotic societies. For many women it is hard to be alone, but, with isolation there comes definition of oneself. Finding the individual erotic test the norms of many societies and requires women to move beyond traditional ways. Lorde also mentioned that the erotic makes women fearless and powerful and this is precisely the reason why most men, who support and provide favor to the patriarchy societies, reduce women and their erotic only as far as the bedroom . The erotic is a power, and once found, can lead to good and bad consequences depending on one’s perspective. As Lorde also states, the erotic is being misused for the benefit of men and until women discover it within themselves then nothing will change.

Works Cited:
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2007. Print.