The Master's Tools

Lorde begins with a commentary on the conference she is invited to attend, and how the views of black women and lesbians seem second rate. Surely, she must have felt extremely isolated as Lorde belongs to both categories as black lesbian woman, but regardless such an injustice and lack of representation speaks volumes about the women's movement as a whole. throughout history, there has been a disconnect between race, sexuality, and class of women in the fight for equal rights. Many frontline feminists such as Betty Friedan claim to be fighting for the equality of all women and to create a society where there is no gender division. Clearly this is a lengthy goal since men across race and class are not yet equal in modern American society, but since women advocate for rights as a minority and oppressed group, we would like to thank they would represent their goals or at least problems of all women. One of our previous readings by Sojourner Truth explicated the differences between the struggles of black and white women in the nineteenth century and explained why many black women in the middle of the twentieth century choose to stay with civil rights groups over feminists ones. However, it is unfortunate to realize that there is still such a large gap between women in terms of class, race, and sexuality, especially at a conference designed for the progression of women's rights.