In “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference”, Audre Lorde begins this essay by acknowledging the fact that there have been systems instituted to make people inferior in order to uplift others. Lorde then proceeds to argue that in...

In 1973, a 10-year-old African American boy named Clifford Glover was shot and killed by Thomas Shea, a policeman for the NYPD. In the days that followed, riots and protests tore through the surrounding area in Queens. Then, a year later, Shea...

The works of Audre Lorde, Ntozake Shange, and Junot Diaz have featured communities that are formed around a shared sexual identity: one that is either chosen to be empowering or one that is forced upon the community members. In some cases, these...

Oppression can come in many forms; the one people identify least is the one that could harm people the most. Audrey Lorde speaks with a personal level of reflection as she states how silence is a version of oppression that many confuse for...

Audre Lorde’s 1985 essay Poetry is Not a Luxury makes several arguments about the purpose and power of poetry, particularly for marginalized groups like women and people of color. Her explanation of how poetry serves us—as a tool to turn radical...

In Zami: A New Spelling of my Name by Audre Lorde, Lorde invents a new genre that she calls “biomythography,” a genre in which she can explore her experiences, emotions, and life-journey in a way that emphasizes emotions, eroticism, and the...

In Thérèse Raquin, Zola creates bodies criss-crossed by tension through contrasting his characters’ temperaments (the “natural” self) with their outward surroundings and circumstances (social norms, family expectations). It is the stark contrast...

In the mid-twentieth century, the male and female dichotomy defined and permeated many aspects of traditional mainstream American culture. From heteronormative marriage to rigid gender roles, society greatly emphasized maintaining what a lot of...