To make Sapphic Circle accessible to more women, we will be alternating between daytime and evening meeting sessions. We will meet on the third Thursday of each month, but will alternate between meeting at 10am PST/1pm EST one month and 5:00pm PST/8pm EST the next month. This change is being made based on feedback from women interested in participating in Sapphic Circle.
Sapphic Circle is a space for lesbians to come together for thoughtful discussions on a variety of topics. We seek to build lesbian community through engaging in lesbian ideas, politics, media, and more!
DECEMBER'S TOPIC: "Uses of the Erotic" by Audre Lorde
We tend to think of the erotic as an easy, tantalizing sexual arousal. I speak of the erotic as the deepest life force, a force which moves us toward living in a fundamental way (Lorde, 1984).
This month we'll be discussing the essay, "The Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power" by Audre Lorde. In this essay, Lorde defines what she sees as the power of the erotic, names the process by which women have been stripped of this power, and considers how women can reclaim it. For her, the erotic is a source of power that has the ability to create change. She writes,
[the] erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling. In order to perpetuate itself, every oppression must corrupt or distort those various source of power within the culture of the oppressed that can provide energy for change (Lorde, 1984, p. 53).
In this essay, written long before pornography became as mainstream, ubiquitous, and violent as it is today, Lorde challenges the false association of the erotic with pornography. She seeks to liberate the erotic from the pornographers' clutches and return it to a source of power and transformation for women to know themselves, their work, and their purpose.
Questions to Consider
- What do you think of Lorde's definition of the erotic?
- How does Lorde's idea of the erotic make you think about your own lesbian identity and sexuality?
- How did the erotic come to be connected with the pornographic? Is it possible to separate the two or has the word become too co-opted by the sex industry and sex liberal culture?
- How does the erotic as a deep knowledge and creative source prompt you to re-evaluate your life and pursue genuine change for yourself and other women?
Meeting Link
Access
Access the pdf of the essay here.
References
"Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power" was a paper first delivered at the Fourth Berkshire Conference on the History of Women at Mount Holyoke College on August 25, 1978. It was then published as a pamphlet by Out & Out Books. It is reprinted in Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde, Crossing Press: 1984.
FAQs & Code Of Participation
If you have questions, please read over Sapphic Circle's Frequently Asked Questions and review our Feminist Code Of Participation.
Sapphic Circle: Bringing lesbians together the third Thursday of every month.
