Alex Bass

Sierra Long

Gen-X

Jen Byrd

9/19/2017

Feminist in History

Feminism is defined as the advocacy for womens rights based on the equality of sexes.

Second-wave feminism began in the early 1960s and focused on sexuality, family, the

workplace, reproductive rights, and official legal inequalities. It also drew attention to domestic

violence, rape, and custody and divorce laws. Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde dedicate their

time to fight and draw attention to the major issues that second-wave feminism aimed to draw

attention. Also, a multitude of colorful lenses was cast over, both, Rich and Lordes lives, as

their experiences matured within the same period as Americas fallen economy, World War II,

and the rise of McCarthyism.

Lorde grew up in the bulk of black culture, as she resided in Harlem, New York. She was

born February 18, 1934, which perhaps had the most substantial influence on shaping Lordes

experience. She culminated in the face of an era where every aspect of her core identity, was an

existence that society rejected. Blacks, women, the gay and lesbian community, and feminists

were oppressed. Instead of shying away from the obstruction, she emerged a radical feminist, a

womanist, and a civil rights activists. Not only did Lorde advocate for the advancement and

acknowledgment of black education and cultural institutions, but she also encouraged members

of the black community to assume greater roles as well (Lorde et al.,2009). Particular members

include African American men. Lorde felt as though Black men were absent and fleeting when
called to support black women. Black men often criticized womanist for being bitter, though

Lorde thought her words to be much-needed dialogue. Lorde would describe black women to be

the punching bags of black male rage, and the only thing black males contributed to was rape

culture. Yet it is my female children and my black sisters who lie bleeding all around me,

victims of the appetites of our brothers (Lorde, 45).

Despite the overwhelming complexities of Lordes assorted integrities, she embraced

them all. She deemed herself to be known as the Sister Outsider. A coined term named after her

published Collection, Sister Outsider. The title expresses the verity of her collective,

marginalized identities as a black woman, a lesbian, a mother, and a feminist. In the spirit of

conveying the oppressing tensions of the identities she heavily embraced, she published her

piece, The Black Unicorn. The black unicorn in unrelenting[.] The black unicorn is not free

(Lorde, 2017). Just the connotations that ring out behind those uttered words, the black

unicorn is not free, alone compel the reader to empathize with Lordes experience. Lordes

writing is typically based on ethos, because of her knowledge and reflections and pathos, because

of the emotional appeal, she pulls out of her readers.

Adrienne Rich was born on May 16, 1929. She described herself as an American poet,

essayist, and radical feminist (Riley). Richs work can be categorized into three-time frames. The

beginning of her public writings in 1951 to 1971 were dedicated to the tensions she faced her

early adult life, which included her journey in finding her voice and the subject matters she

wanted her writing to focus. In 1973, Richs writings began to take shape and began to focus on

women's history and the movement that brought attention to sexuality, patriarchy, and politics.

From 1986 to the end of her writing career in 2012, her pieces grew to represent the gendered,

sexualized, nationalized, and the aging body. Also, her books demonstrate her passion for
political-cultural traditions and political practices (Riley). It is said that that Richs primary

focus was on expectations of motherhood. She felt that motherhood was high pressured and

intensive, it was a way to tie women to men continuously. Rich is quoted in her book Of Woman

Born as saying, but can you imagine how some of them were envying you and your freedom, to

work, to think, to travel, to enter a room as yourself, not as some childs mother or some mans

wife (pg. 247). Rich tirelessly tried to break up the notion that motherhood is required for a

sense of fulfillment. Additionally, Adrienne touched on identity, she believed ones identity

originates in the body and constantly shifts depending on location and experiences. Rich carried

many characters that were shaped by gender, religion, sexuality, and nation. She believed the

body is immediately labeled upon birth and changes as one experiences diverse locations (Riley).

In the midst of their overlapping time periods, Rich and Lorde both transpired to be

strong, impactful, radical feminist. Both, serve as voices for oppressed women and articulated

their standpoints through eloquent means, but where did they differ? Well, for one, not only is

Lorde apart of the LGTBQIA+ community and Rich not, but while Lorde embodied and

accepted her diverse identities, Rich often grew tired and agitated of her own. Rich wanted to

separate herself from the status of wife or mother. Rich wanted to be the voice, and only the

voice, of an independent woman and she stresses this in a mix of her pieces. On the contrary,

Lorde highlights advocacy for her numerous titles and appreciation of such. Also, though Rich

and Lorde became radical feminists, and though both their time periods overlay one another,

there was one trait in particular that split the experiences between the two - race. As you can

imagine, growing up in Harlem as a black female can yield drastically different influences than

one's accumulated growing up as a white woman in Baltimore. Lorde came to accrue not only

the title of a feminist but also a womanist. As womanist, Lorde encompassed the concerns of
women in general and furthermore the concerns of black women in particular. James Baldwin

said it quite eloquently, to paraphrase, as black Americans we must see the world through two

lenses - white and black, to know how society impacts us. If you are white, you do not have to

see between the two, just your one.

Different complexities, overlapping time periods, and the same drive for radical feminism

is what bring Adrienne Rich and Audre Lorde together, and what sets them apart.
 Work Cited

Riley, Jeannette E., and Linda Wagner-Martin. Understanding Adrienne Rich. Project MUSE,

University of South Carolina Press, 2016

Rich, Adrienne. Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution. Virago, 1997.

Lorde, A., Byrd, R., Cole, J. and Guy-Sheftall, B. (2009). I am your sister. Oxford, UK: Oxford

University Press.

Lorde, A. (2017). The Black Unicorn (audio only). [online] The Black Unicorn (audio only).
Available at: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poem/black-unicorn-audio-only [Accessed 16 Sep.
2017].