When I speak of the erotic, then I speak of it as an assertion of the life force of women; of that creative energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes women's empowerment through their erotic energy as a vital force in life.
Audre Lorde's quote highlights the significance of the erotic as an expression of women's life force and creative energy. It suggests that reclaiming this aspect of femininity is essential for women's self-identity, influencing their language, history, and various facets of their lives, including love and work. Through embracing this energy, women can assert their power and creativity.
In practice
This quote can be used in a women's empowerment workshop to highlight the importance of reclaiming personal strength.
The fact that we are here and that I speak these words is an attempt to break that silence and bridge some of those differences between us, for it is not difference which immobilizes us, but silence. And there are so many silences to be broken.
There is no thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives.
There are no new ideas. There are only new ways of making them felt.
I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.
I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.
There's always someone asking you to underline one piece of yourself - whether it's Black, woman, mother, dyke, teacher, etc. - because that's the piece that they need to key in to. They want to dismiss everything else.
I march in the parade of liberty But as long as I love you I’m not free How long must I suffer such abuse Won’t you let me see you smile one time before I turn you loose?
Love and work are to people what water and sunshine are to plants.
You must love and care for yourself, because that's when the best comes out.
Soon, everything else would come rushing at him. Like the ground to a falling man, it would come rushing up and hit him all at once - the place, the company, her words; one implication would lead to another and shatter him - but around that intake of breath the world hung silent and bright, so bright, and Akiva only knew this one thing, and held on to it and wanted to live inside of it and stay there forever. Karou was alive.
Darkness may hide the trees and the flowers from the eyes but it cannot hide love from the soul.
Beauty, wit,_x000D_ _x000D_ High birth, vigour of bone, desert in service,_x000D_ _x000D_ Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all_x000D_ _x000D_ To envious and calumniating time.
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