I Need You, Fence And All

How about if Mondays is our day to explore feminist writings? We're ready to work hard on Mondays, right?!

Today: Audre Lorde's "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House." Lorde's point in this article is that women often try to downplay differences amongst us rather than celebrating them.  She comes from the perspective that the world has tried power as domination, an "old and primary tool of all oppressors to keep the oppressed occupied with the master's concerns." When I read this essay, I heard that the world doesn't need more domination, it needs a new model, one that the "womanly" attributes considered weaker and less effective like nurturing and vulnerability might have a place in this discussion.  (Or otherwise stated, the biblical theme of strength being found in weakness).  She argues that the systems of domination fear connectedness of women.  Why?

Tiger mom vs. Helicopter mom.  Stay at home mom vs. career mom.  Fashionista vs. Granola.  Single woman vs. married woman.  Natural birth proponents vs. (um, I'm not sure what the official title is for the other side). Republicans vs. Democrats (are you starting to feel this?) Mainline vs. Evangelical.  Creationist vs. Evolutionist.  Lesbian vs. Heterosexual.  I'm guessing I might have named at least one issue that raised your blood pressure a wee bit, one where you aren't interested in conceding any middle ground.

I propose that there is a middle ground in all of these issues, and that it doesn't even have to include casting off your firm beliefs.  I can personally attest to actual middle ground being found in the Fashionista/Granola model;) We don't have to all reach the same conclusions to be able to nurture one another.  We can be interdependent and we can support one another in our differences, don't you think?  Lorde suggests that differences can be viewed as polarities which can spark our creative energies.  "Only within that interdependency of different strengths, acknowledged and equal, can the power to seek new ways of being in the world generate, as well as the courage and sustenance to act where there are no charters" (Lorde).

I'm not sure how to conclude this.  I thought about asking if you would find Lorde's quotes less pertinent if you knew she identified as a black lesbian.  Would you be willing to admit that the woman who took a different mothering road than you is a good mom? I think I'll end with a challenge for us to imagine a woman who is on the opposite side of one of the fences we find important and try to pinpoint some way she is making the world a better place.