The Erotic
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The Erotic is a specialized term coined by writer and educator Audre Lorde in "Uses of the Erotic: Erotic as Power". In her essay, the Erotic is described as a source of personal power and political power. According to her it is often confused with the pornographic and often seen as suspicious in a patriarchal society. The word 'erotic' is derived from the Greek word eros. Eros personifies "love in all its aspects".
The Erotic as personal power
According to Audre Lorde, the Erotic, not to be confused with eroticism, is a powerful feminine force of personal power within each of us. The Erotic is a vital and deeply felt resource that rises from the most mysterious parts of the self. Lorde suggests that, "the erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings". It is an inspiring sense of fulfillment, pleasure and completion, that can infiltrate every area of life, including the bedroom, allowing one to live a life of wholeness and profound satisfaction. As Audre Lorde says "there is, for me, no difference between writing a good poem and moving into the sunlight against the body of a woman I love". The Erotic is a soulful way of loving, engaging, reclaiming, honoring, embracing and living life. When reclaimed and honored, the Erotic is experienced as a source of true feeling through the vitality of living a deeply engaged and relational life.
The Erotic in a patriarchal society
According to Lorde, the Erotic is defamed and corrupted in western culture, and as a result, women are both sexually oppressed and exploited in a male-dominated, patriarchal system. According to Lorde "empowered women are dangerous" and are thus taught to disassociate from the Erotic. Lorde states that "the superficially erotic has been encouraged as a sign of female inferiority" and "women have been made to suffer and to feel both contemptible and suspect by virtue of its existence". Lorde asserts that erotic empowerment is female, and an inherently womanly life force. It is initially necessary to focus the empowerment of the Erotic on women, because the Erotic in women has been oppressed, and used to exploit them. Women are taught to fear their desires, sexuality, and pleasures in exchange for the patriarchal script of sexuality.
The Erotic as a political force
According to Lorde, the Erotic is an underused source of personal power and it is also an underused political force. The Erotic can be a source that makes one "less willing to accept powerlessness ... resignation, despair, self-effacement, depression, self-denial," all of which can potentially disrupt or discourage one's willingness to participate in political movements or participate in politics. However, not everyone has equal opportunity to access their erotic. Lorde sees how coalitions can be made with the "power that comes from sharing deeply any pursuit with another person".
Beyond pornography
According to Lorde, the erotic has often been confused with the pornographic, resulting in the terms being used interchangeably within western societies. Lorde dismantles this idea and explains that the two are opposites of each other. According to Lorde, "pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic, for it represents the suppression of true feeling". The erotic is defined by our deepest feelings within ourselves while the pornographic "emphasizes sensation" and completely dismisses feelings.[1]
See also
References
- ^ Lorde, Audre. "The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power" (PDF). uk.sagepub. Retrieved December 3, 2015.