The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House
Week II of Audre Lorde Workshop, Brooklyn Library March 2026
First of all, I want to take three seconds to appreciate this title. It is beyond powerful. Audre Lorde was such an icon.
“For the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. They may allow us temporarily to beat him at his game, but they will never enable us to bring about the genuine change. And this fact is only threatening to those women who still define the master’s course as their only source of support“.
The feminist movement in the 70s was mainly led by white feminists who had the capital and privilege to fight for gender equality based on their experiences. Meanwhile, women from different races, ethnicities, classes, sexualities, and nationalities were excluded from the discussion. Even when they were included, they served as token minorities, and their input was not valued. For instance, Audre was the only Black feminist and lesbian invited, as a panelist, to one of the feminist theory conferences where she gave this speech. White feminists back then advocated for women’s rights without acknowledging the racist nature of patriarchy. It was a prime example of how relying on the master’s tools would never dismantle master’s house. The advancement was limited to one group and there was no liberation for all.
“What does it mean when the tools of a racist patriarchy are used to examine the fruits of that same patriarchy? It means that only the most narrow perimeters of change are possible and allowable.”
“As women, we have been taught either to ignore our differences, or to view them as causes for separation and suspicion rather than as forces for changes. Without community there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression. But community must not mean a shedding of our differences, nor the pathetic pretense that differences do not exist.”
Audre Lorde highlighted the power dynamics between women — who controlled the narrative? Whose stories were being presented, discussed, and heard? She mentioned this vivid example that in the feminism conferences, white women were able to be present and even lecture while “the women who clean your houses and tend your children while you attend conferences on feminist theory are, for the most part, poor women and women of Color? What is the theory behind racist feminism?” By recognizing the differences between women, we will be able to form a true community and build real connection. This represents the power that patriarchy does not want women to have.
During my early 20s when I first learned about feminism, I consumed mostly white feminist materials that lacked racial, sexual, or class theories that addressed the intersectionality of oppression. After coming to USA, I began studies for my master’s degree and encountered women from various backgrounds. Gradually, I learned about their struggles and how gender oppression looked differently for minority women. As an East Asian woman in USA, I have experienced yellow fetish and objectification. My experience may differ from Black, Latina, or Native American women, but the root of racist patriarchy is similar.
“Interdependency between women is the way to a freedom which allows the I to be, not in order to be used, but in order to be creative. This is a difference between the passive be and the active being.”
During the workshop, we reflected on the idea of the passive be vs. the active being. We exclaimed how capitalism and the 9-5 schedule rob us of our creativity and capacity to feel and simply be erotic. It is one of the master’s tool to keep us passive and take away our agency. It is quite interesting because I mentioned my participation in the corporate Employment Resources Groups to raise awareness of DEI in the previous and current company. Unfortunately, it was the perfect example of how an ERG is a tool allowed by the master to temporarily “beat them at their own game” but it wouldn’t bring genuine changes. It brings temporary comfort.
However, we can still form the community that would empower all of us and forge powerful connections — “Within the interdependence of mutual (nondominant) differences lies that security which enables us to descend into the chaos of knowledge and return with true visions of our future, along with the concomitant power to effect those changes which can bring that future into being. Difference is that raw and powerful connection from which our personal power if forged.” Only by embracing our differences, we resist the structure and begin the liberation for all.
