Philosophy of Radical Feminism: Audre Lorde and Gloria Anzaldua

Feminist ideologies encompass a diverse array of social and political movements, thought, and goals; though their commitment to define and establish, political, economic, personal, and social equality between the sexes. Feminist ideology and theory aspires to understand gender inequality by examining women's social roles and lived experience. Further, Feminism studies have evolved, merged, and entwined with various disciplines conducive to responding to gender issues and inequality. In this paper we will take a closer look of radical feminists ideologies of Audre Lorde and Gloria Anzaldua.

Feminism has synthesized to not only deal with the structural issues surrounding women but multicultural, intersectional, and androidinal issues. Unfortunately, despite the apparent togetherness, Feminism, like any other school of thought, has as many major splits within as without. Though both are Feminist, Liberal Feminism and Radical Feminism have thier differences. Both schools ascribe to catapult women into a position of equality in an android-centric (oops.. I should say, machismo-centric) society. However the primary disagreements occur on who should be allowed to join the movement, and how Feminism should be presented. 

In Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women Redefining Difference, Audre Lorde, discusses differentiated Feminism; the cultural homogenization of third-world women as a guise of oppression in the form of othering; and is critical of the “first-world” Feminist movements and power structures for deemphasizing sexual, racial, and class differences. She reminds us of the “institutionalized rejection of difference”; fear of utilizing human differences; and the exclusion of Women of Color from literature and discourse. She believes that community homogenization leads to the “othering” of Women of Color, “whose experiences and tradition[s] [are] too ‘alien’ to comprehend” and thus, unworthy of differentiated scholarly attention. Audre Lorde calls for the embracing of these “alien” differences rather than rejection. “It is not our differences that separate women, but our reluctance to recognize those differences and to deal effectively with the distortions which have resulted from the ignoring and misnaming of those differences”. She hypothesizes that 'the future of our earth may depend upon the ability of all women to identify and develop new definitions of power and new patterns of relating across differences”. In other words, understanding feminine individuality, concerns, and societal labels should be the first aspiration for the development and transformation of the global community. Similarly, in La Conciencia de la Mestiza: Towards a New Consciousness, Gloria Anzaldúa articulates the construction of multiple hybrid identities; la mestiza’s social relations; and thought transcendence. “From this racial, ideological, cultural, and biological cross-pollinization, an ‘alien’ consciousness is presently in the making -- a new mestiza consciousness, una conciencia de mujer”. Anzaldúa discusses the idea of Borderland, an abstract space where multiple identities, histories, and cultures overlap. This space evolves, entwines, and converges, where cultures and classes collide, and is the result of the “coming together of two self-consistent but habitually incompatible frames of reference”. Anzaldua describes la mestiza’s internal conflict created by the convergence of cultures, ambiguity, and struggle in the Borderlands. Often torn between incompatible cultures, la mestiza struggles to distinguish where she belongs. She is simultaneously a part of the culture and an “other”. This choice labels her. Defines her. She is both the oppressed or the oppressor; and simultaneously neither. La mestiza is placed in opposition to machismo. All of her multiple identities (labels) are in juxtaposition to one another. Creating the mestiza consciousness. This hybrid mestiza consciousness razes the confining flesh; allows her to transcend beyond the boundaries subject/object, white/colored, male/female, heterosexual/queer -- social constructs; embraces contradictions; and acquiesces to “a new value system with images and symbols that connect us to each other and the planet”. According to Anzaldua, people’s labels, or rather the singular aspects of one's' identity’s needs to embrace the fluid and contradictory intersections of race, class, gender within and between cultures. 

Radical Feminists Audre Lorde and Gloria Anzaldua, are interesting, unique, and brilliant in how they emphasize what they perceive as their defining characteristics. Both women are lesbian, ethnic minorities, and have felt what they call the “othering” and alienation of Women of Color. Gloria Anzaldua constructs a hybrid identity via an imagined space titled the Borderland; for her social change and revolution must first take place in the mind -- of ourselves, then in the minds of those around us. She cleverly articulates her mestiza consciousness, in an admixture of English and Spanish -- emphasizing her own hybridity. To Audre Lorde her “labels” (identities) are what defines her. She herself has proclaimed herself a Black, lesbian, poet, etc., -- but she is not just one of these, she is all of these. She reinforces the ideals that no-one is too alien to comprehend. She displaces the notion that Women of Color are unworthy of scholastic opportunity. She is against homogeneity. Understands feminine individuality. Embraces, rather than rejects her “alien” differences. Despite the attention and acceptance of identity, Radical Feminists reject any form of male support. Which is quite ironic as they encompass 49% of the population. Liberal Feminists are very different in how they deal with both men and the “other”. According to Betty Friedan, “We must overcome our diversity of varied political beliefs. Our common commitment is to equality for women”. This includes men. And mainstreaming the cause. Her direct action in mainstreaming the Feminist agenda brought attention to women's inalienable rights -- politically and legally. However, her efforts to win the war alienated prospective allies similar to Lorde and Anzaldua. Representing the desiderata of women, Feminists and Feminism sprung forth, like Athena, from patriarchal, android-centric societies. Both Liberal Feminism and Radical Feminism have their differences and each school has its own unique spin on what Feminism is really about. Liberal Feminists, like Betty Friedan, sought structural reform and togetherness to bring equality of the sexes -- regardless of gender. 

To end up, radical Feminists such as Audre Lorde and Gloria Anzaldua harshly criticize Liberal Feminists’ homogeneity, and confront the “othering” and alienation of Women of Color -- and only women. Despite their differences, Feminists continue to campaign for women's rights, including suffrage; wage equality; education; property ownership; marital rights; maternity leave; abortion; business equality; social integration; gender-role liberation; accouterment; and protection against domestic violence, sexual harassment, and rape.