e.Lisha

the erotic is a resource within each of us that lies in a deeply female and spiritual plane, firmly rooted in the power of our unexpressed or unrecognized feeling. . . .
of course, women so empowered are dangerous. so we are taught to separate the erotic from most vital areas of our lives other than sex. . . .
women have been taught to suspect the erotic urge, the place that is uniquely female. so, just as we tend to reject our blackness because it has been termed inferior, as women we tend to reject our capacity for feeling, our ability to love, to touch the erotic, because it has been devalued. but it is within this that lies so much of our power, our ability to posit, our vision. because once we know how deeply we can feel, we begin to demand from all of our life pursuits that they be in accordance with these feelings. . . .
i believe in the erotic and i believe in it as an enlightening force within our lives as women. i have become clearer about the distinctions between the erotic and other apparently similar forces. we tend to think of the erotic as an easy, tantalizing sexual arousal. i speak of the erotic as the deepest life force, a force which moves us toward living in a fundamental way. and when i say living i mean it as that force which moves us toward what will accomplish real positive change.
-audre lorde