...than abstract, grounded in the world and in the body, creative and revolutionary. Audre Lorde defines it "as an assertion of the life-force of women; of...energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are not reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our living, our work, our lives" (3-4). She...

...concept of the erotic and asserts that it is an intrinsically dynamic force within women's lives. mony. When I speak of the erotic, then, I speak of it as...energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives." Lorde therefore...

...often misogynistic conceptions of eroticism that equate it with pornography. She defines the erotic as "an assertion of the lifeforce of women; of that...energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming" (55). The erotic is a source of power that "comes from sharing deeply any pursuit with...

...and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling." 19 It is "an assertion of the lifeforce of women; of that creative...energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives." 20 In her...

...promoting the concept of lesbian sexuality, a poetry of itself in all its irony and paradox. Lorde's words: When I speak of the erotic, then, I speak of it as...energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives. Within the...

...personification of love in all its aspects— born of Chaos, and personifying creative power and harmony. When I speak of the erotic, then, I speak of it as...energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives. There are...

...a poetry of itself in all its irony and paradox. Lorde's words: When 1 speak of the erotie, then, 1 speak of it as an assertion of the lifeforce of women;...energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives. Within the...

...and as the opposite of pornography, which offers physical sensation without any feeling. She writes, "When I speak of the erotic, then, I speak of it as...assertion of the lifeforce of women: of that creative empowerment, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our...

...(Irigaray 1980, 74). Women have their own source of power — to Audre Lorde, the power of the erotic: "When I speak of the erotic, then, I speak of it as...energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives" (1984, 55)....

...of the necessity for reassessing the very quality of all the aspects of our lives and of our work. life-force of women; of that creative energy empowered, the knowledge and use of which we are now reclaiming in our language, our history, our dancing, our loving, our work, our lives. There are...