Analysis Of Living A Feminist Life By Sara Ahmed

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Audrey Lorde once said “I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own.” I use this quote to introduce my concept of intersectional feminism, Audrey Lorde captured the idea very well. My interpretation of this quote is Lorde focusing on how even women vary in race, religion, sexual orientation and this difference is a woman’s “shackles” which holds her back from being seen as equal. It focuses on how women should not ignore what makes them different, but acknowledge this difference to work together as a feminist community. This brings light to the idea of intersectionality, described as “a framework in which to understand that systems of power and oppression and social identity categories are overlapping, interconnected, and simultaneous”(Lecture Week 3). Intersectionality is using your multitudes of identities to understand both your privileges and oppressions. I am an Indian woman, so while I am a minority and oppressed as a woman, I come from a high socioeconomic status and that is …show more content…

Ahmed’s writing enunciates what feminism means to her and how it can help anyone’s life. She denotes,”Feminism is DIY: a form of self assembly” (Ahmed 25). Feminism is what you make it, whether you choose to let your personal identities and bias engulf feminism or whether you choose to reject it. Feminism is how you add to your character to become your fullest and most original self, she later states,”Becoming feminist: how we redescribe the world we are in. We begin to identify how what happens to others. We begin to identify patterns and regularities” (Ahmed 25). She describes how feminism can change an everyday life to look at the world differently and notice such nuances. This is how she encourages her readers to look at feminism through an intersectional

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