Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power

I wanted to start with the paragraph that says "The erotic has often been misnamed by men and used against women.  It has been made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticized sensation.  For this reason, we have often turned away from the exploration and consideration of the erotic as a source of power and information, confusing it with its opposite, the pornographic.  But pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic, for it represents the suppression of true feeling.  Pornography emphasizes sensation without feeling."  I really liked this paragraph because it holds so much truth.  The word "erotic" has been characterized as regarding something sexual and only sexual.  But Audre Lorde describes the word "erotic" as being able to be used to describe any sort of intense emotional experience. While reading this it made me think of the poem by Sharon Olds, "Sex Without Love".

She continues to say "The erotic is a measure between the beginnings of our sense of self and the chaos of our strongest feelings."  I interpreted this as finding a passion that gives you an "erotic" feeling.  Doing something you really love to do can make you feel erotic, which I have not ever thought of describing the feelings I feel when I am doing something I am passionate about as "erotic".  However after reading this piece, it made me realize that is the perfect word to use to describe those feelings.

"The internal requirement toward excellence which we learn from the erotic must nor be misconstrued as demanding the impossible from ourselves not from others."  When I read this I interpreted it as once we find out how to get to the point of eroticism, we then try to reach that point at all times.  An example, is if I, as a student, do really well one semester and get a 4.0, I may feel erotic due to my great accomplishment.  However, if the following semester I take more credits than the last, I should not try to demand the impossible from myself of reaching the erotic feeling again even though I may feel an "internal requirement" to do so.  There are many different areas of our lives in which we can fulfill that erotic feeling, but it is different for everyone.  We just need to find what it is for ourselves.