Lorde’s piece, Uses of the Erotic, is a description of how women should harness this ‘passion’ that they posses and that has been muted, undermined, and simplified by oppression. While ‘the erotic’ may have a certain definition in our vernacular, Lorde desires to expand this definition as well as expanding the uses of the erotic, infusing it into all parts of life, allowing for self-fulfillment and joy and satisfaction that is not just felt from the genitals, but in everyday life where it is applied.
Still, Lorde’s notion of ‘the erotic’ reminds me of past definitions of women’s sensuality, and orgasm. In particular, Simone de Beauvoir’s chapter on virginity in The Second Sex comes to mind. She emphasizes the unique, imprecise, diffused and “peculiarly psychosomatic” nature of woman’s sexual pleasure and desire. She sees it as much different from that of the man, as it does not linger in solely the erogenous zones, but is “conditioned by the total situation” (396). This seems to allow women a unique middle ground in which their sexuality can exist healthily without direct physical pleasure. Their enjoyment of intercourse can be curtailed by the “cold premeditation” of when and with whom (wedding night; spouse) one might lose their virginity, removing the aspect of spontaneity that adds to the ‘magic spell’ of the female erotic experience. De Beauvoir’s paints a poetic, phenomenological portrait of female pleasure.
In class, this definition was called a “more maternalistic, essentialist” description of female sexuality which was “not what Lorde was going for.” I would beg to differ. I find de Beauvoir’s description to be a pretty cool, and potentially liberating notion of women’s sensuality. Like Lorde’s notion, this diffuse and holistic description has been taken away from us by the images of what we are supposed to act like, look like, feel and think about when we are having sex. By de Beauvoir’s definition, there is much more to take into account than the visual or even the tactile (which Sarah Chin discusses), it takes into account the situation and the mentality of the woman as well. Lorde’s passages about synesthetic experiences found in Chin’s article fit easily with de Beauvoir’s theorizing.
I don’t think it should be looked upon as an ‘essentialist’ thing to be discussing ways women experience and have sex, especially if these discussions, like Beauvoir and Lorde’s, leave ample space for further diversity and satisfaction in experiences.
