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FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY
Passionate Politics
bell hooks
South End Press
Cambridge, MA
CONTENTS
Copyright © 2000 by Gloria Watkins
Cover design by Ellen P. Shapiro
Cover illustration by Laura DeSantis, © Artville
Any properly footnoted quotation of up to 500 sequential words
may be used without permission, as long as the total number of
words quoted does not exceed 2,000. For longer quotations or for a
greater number of total words, please write to South End Press for
permission.
INTRODUCTION
Come Closer to Feminism
1.
2.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hooks, Bell.
Feminism is for everybody: passionate politics / Bell Hooks.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-89608-629-1 – ISBN 0-89608-628-3 (pbk.)
1. Feminist theory. 2. Feminism – Philosophy. 3. Feminism Political aspects. 4. Sex discrimination against women. 1. Title.
HQl190 .H67 2000
305.42’01 – dc21
00-036589
South End Press, 7 Brookline Street, #1, Cambridge, MA 02139
06 05 04
7 8 9
Printed in Canada
FEMINIST POLITICS
Where We Stand
1
CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING
A Constant Change of Heart
7
3. SISI:ERHOOD IS STILL POWERFUL
4.
Vll
13
FEMINIST EDUCATION
FOR CRITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS
19
OUR BODIES, OURSELVES
Reproductive Rights
25
6.
BEAUTY WITHIN AND WITHOUT
31
7.
FEMINIST CLASS STRUGGLE
37
8.
GLOBAL FEMINISM
44
5.
9. WOMEN AT WORI(
48
10. RACE AND GENDER
55
11. ENDING VIOLENCE
61
12. FEMINIST MASCULINITY
67
13. FEMINIST PARENTING
72
14. LIBERATING MARRIAGE
AND PARTNERSHIP
78
15. A FEMINIST SEXUAL POLITIC
An Ethics of Mutual Freedom
85
16. TOTAL BLISS
Lesbianism and Feminism
93
INTRODUCTION
17. TO LOVE AGAIN
The Heart of Feminism
100
18. FEMINIST SPIRITUALITY
105
19. VISIONARY FEMINISM
110
INDEX
119
ABOUT SOUTH END PRESS
125
Come Closer to Feminism
Everywhere I go I proudly tell folks who want to know who I am
and what I do that I am a writer, a feminist theorist, a cultural critic. I
tell them I write about movies and popular culture, analyzing the
message in the medium. Most people find this exciting and want to
know more. Everyone goes to movies, watches television, glances
through magazines, and everyone has thoughts about the messages
they receive, about the images they look at. It is easy for the diverse
public I encounter to understand what I do as a cultural critic, to understand my passion for writing Oots of folks want to write, and do).
But feminist theory – that’s the place where the questions stop. Instead I tend to hear all about the evil of feminism and the bad feminists: how “they” hate men; how “they” want to go against natureand god; how “they” are all lesbians; how “they” are taking all the jobs
and making the world hard for white men, who do not stand a chance.
When I ask these same folks about the feminist books or magazines they read, when I ask them about the feminist talks they have
heard, about the feminist activists they know, they respond by letting me know that everything they know about feminism has come
into their lives thirdhand, that they really have not come close
enough to feminist movement to know what really happens, what
it’s really about. Mostly they think feminism is a bunch of angry
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FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY
INTRODUCTION
women who want to be like men. They do not even think about
feminism as being about rights – about women gaining equal
rights. When I talk about the feminism I know – up close and personal- they willingly listen, although when our conversations end,
they are quick to tell me I am different, not like the “real” feminists
who hate men, who are angry. I assure them I am as a real and as radical a feminist as one can be, and if they dare to come closer to femi-
would be naive and wrongminded for feminist thinkers to see the
movement as simplistically being for women against men. To end
patriarchy (another way of naming the institutionalized sexism) we
need to be clear that we are all participants in perpetuating sexism
until we change our minds and hearts, until we let go of sexist
thought and action and replace it with feminist thought and action.
Males as a group have and do benefit the most from patriarchy,
from the assumption that they are superior to females and should
rule over us. But those benefits have come with a price. In return for
all the goodies men receive from patriarchy, they are required to
dominate women, to exploit and oppress us, using violence if they
must to keep patriarchy intact. Most men find it difficult to be patriarchs. Most men are disturbed by hatred and fear of women, by male
V1ll
nism they will see it is not how they have imagined it.
Each time I leave one of these encounters, I want to have in my
hand a little book so that I can say, read this book, and it will tell you
what feminism is, what the movement is about. I want to be holding
in my hand a concise, fairly easy to read and understand book; not a
long book, not a book thick with hard to understand jargon and academic language, but a straightforward, clear book – easy to read
without being simplistic. From the moment feminist thinking, politics, and practice changed my life, I have wanted this book. I have
wanted to give it to the folk I love so that they can understand better
this cause, this feminist politics I believe in so deeply, that is the
foundation of my political life.
I have wanted them to have an answer to the question “what is
feminism?” that is rooted neither in fear or fantasy. I have wanted
them to have this simple definition to read again and again so they
know: “Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation,
and oppression.” I love this definition, which I first offered more
than 10 years ago in my book Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. I
love it because it so clearly states that the movement is not about being anti-male. It makes it clear that the problem is sexism. And that
clarity helps us remember that all of us, female and male, have been
socialized from birth on to accept sexist thought and action. As a
consequence, females can be just as sexist as men. And while that
does not excuse or justify male domination, it does mean that it
IX
violence against women, even the men who perpetuate this violence. But they fear letting go of the benefits. They are not certain
what will happen to the world they know most intimately if patriarchy changes. So they find it easier to passively support male domination even when they know in their minds and hearts that it is wrong.
Again and again men tell me they have no idea what it is feminists
want. I believe them. I believe in their capacity to change and grow.
And I believe that if they knew more about feminism they would no
longer fear it, for they would find in feminist movement the hope of
their own release from the bondage of patriarchy.
It is for these men, young and old, and for all of us, that I have
written this short handbook, the book I have spent more than 20
years longing for. I had to write it because I kept waiting for it to appear, and it did not. And without it there was no way to address the
hordes of people in this nation who are daily bombarded with
anti-feminist backlash, who are being told to hate and resist a movement that they know very little about. There should be so many little
feminist primers, easy to read pamphlets and books, telling us all
x
FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY
1
about feminism, that this book would be just another passionate
voice speaking out on behalf of feminist politics. There should be billboards; ads in magazines; ads on buses, subways, trains; television
commercials spreading the word, letting the world know more about
feminism. We are not there yet. But this is what we must do to share
feminism, to let the movement into everyone’s mind and heart.
Feminist change has already touched all our lives in a positive way.
And yet we lose sight of the positive when all we hear about feminism is negative.
When I began to resist male domination, to rebel against patriarchal thinking (and to oppose the strongest patriarchal voice in my
life – my mother’s voice), I was still a teenager, suicidal, depressed,
uncertain about how I would find meaning in my life and a place for
myself. I needed feminism to give me a foundation of equality and
justice to stand on. Mama has come around to feminist thinking. She
sees me and all her daughters (we are six) living better lives because of
feminist politics. She sees the promise and hope in feminist movement. It is that promise and hope that I want to share with you in
this book, with everybody.
Imagine living in a world where there is no domination, where
females and males are not alike or even always equal, but where a vision of mutuality is the ethos shaping our interaction. Imagine living
my hope at the time that it would become a common definition
everyone would use. I liked this definition because it did not imply
that men were the enemy. By naming sexism as the problem it went
directly to the heart of the matter. Practically, it is a definition which
implies that all sexist thinking and action is the problem, whether
those who perpetuate it are female or male, child or adult. It is also
broad enough to include an understanding of systemic institutionalized sexism. As a definition it is open-ended. To understand feminism it implies one has to necessarily understand sexism.
in a world where we can all be who we are, a world of peace and possibility. Feminist revolution alone will not create such a world; we
need to end racism, class elitism, imperialism. But it will make it possible for us to be fully self-actualized females and males able to create
beloved community, to live together, realizing our dreams of freedom
and justice, living the truth that we are all “created equal.” Come
closer. See how feminism can touch and change your life and all our
lives. Come closer and know firsthand what feminist movement is all
about. Come closer and you will see: feminism is for everybody.
As all advocates of feminist politics know, most people do not
understand sexism, or if they do, they think it is not a problem.
Masses of people think that feminism is always and only about
women seeking to be equal to men. And a huge majority of these
folks think feminism is anti-male. Their misunderstanding of feminist politics reflects the reality that most folks learn about feminism
from patriarchal mass media. The feminism they hear about the
most is portrayed by women who are primarily committed to gender
equality – equal pay for equal work, and sometimes women and
FEMINIST POLITICS
Where We Stand
Simply put, feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. This was a definition of feminism I offered in
Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center more than 10 years ago. It was
1
FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY
FEMINIST POLITICS
men sharing household chores and parenting. They see that these
women to follow. Participating in these radical freedom struggles
women are usually white and materially privileged. They know from
awakened the spirit of rebellion and resistance in progressive fe-
mass media that women’s liberation focuses on the freedom to have
males and led them towards contemporary women’s liberation.
2
3
abortions, to be lesbians, to challenge rape and domestic violence.
As contemporary feminism progressed, as women realized that
Among these issues, masses of people agree with the idea of gender
males were not the only group in our society who supported sexist
equity in the workplace – equal pay for equal work.
Since our society continues to be primarily a “Christian” cul-
thinking and behavior –
anti-male sentiment no longer shaped the movement’s conscious-
that females could be sexist as well –
ture, masses of people continue to believe that god has ordained that
ness. The focus shifted to an all-out effort to create gender justice.
women be subordinate to men in the domestic household. Even
But women could not band together to further feminism without
though masses of women have entered the workforce, even though
confronting our sexist thinking. Sisterhood could not be powerful
many families are headed by women who are the sole breadwinners,
as long as women were competitively at war with one another. Uto-
the vision of domestic life which continues to dominate the nation’s
pian visions of sisterhood based solely on the awareness of the real-
imagination is one in which the logic of male domination is intact,
ity that all women were in some way victimized by male domination
whether men are present in the home or not. The wrongminded no-
were disrupted by discussions of class and race. Discussions of class
tion of feminist movement which implied it was anti-male carried
differences occurred early on in contemporary feminism, preceding
with it the wrongminded assumption that all female space would
discussions of race. Diana Press published revolutionary insights
necessarily be an environment where patriarchy and sexist thinking
about class divisions between women as early as the mid-’70s in their
would be absent. Many women, even those involved in feminist pol-
collection of essays Class and Feminism. These discussions did not
itics, chose to believe this as well.
There was indeed a great deal of anti-male sentiment among
trivialize the feminist insistence that “sisterhood is powerful,” they
early feminist activists who were responding to male domination
confronting the ways women –
with anger. It was that anger at injustice that was the impetus for cre-
dominated and exploited other women, and created a political plat-
ating a women’s liberation movement. Early on most feminist activ-
form that would address these differences.
simply emphasized that we could only become sisters in struggle by
through sex, class, and race –
ists (a majority of whom were white) had their consciousness raised
Even though individual black women were active in contempo-
about the nature of male domination when they were working in
rary feminist movement from its inception, they were not the indi-
anti-classist and anti-racist settings with men who were telling the
viduals who became the “stars” of the movement, who attracted the
world about the importance of freedom while subordinating the
attention of mass media. Often individual black women active in
women in their ranks. Whether it was white women working on be-
feminist movement were revolutionary feminists (like many white
half of socialism, black women working on behalf of civil rights and
lesbians). They were already at odds with reformist feminists who
black liberation, or Native American women working for indige-
resolutely wanted to project a vision of the movement as being
nous rights, it was clear that men wanted to lead, and they wanted
solely about women gaining equality with men in the existing sys-
4
FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY
FEMINIST POLITICS
tem. Even before race became a talked about issue in feminist circles
olutionary feminist thinking was most accepted and embraced in
it was clear to black women (and to their revolutionary allies in
academic circles. In those circles the production of revolutionary
struggle) that they were never going to have equality within the existing white supremacist capitalist patriarchy.
feminist theory progressed, but more often than not that theory was
not made available to the public. It became and remains a privileged
From its earliest inception feminist movement was polarized.
Reformist thinkers chose to emphasize gender equality. Revolution-
discourse available to those among us who are highly literate, welleducated, and usually materially privileged. Works like Feminist The-
ary thinkers did not want simply to alter the existing system so that
women would have more rights. We wanted to transform that sys-
ory: From Margin to Center that offer a liberatory vision of feminist
transformation never receive mainstream attention. Masses of people have not heard of this book. They have not rejected its message;
they do not know what the message is.
tem, to bring an end to patriarchy and sexism. Since patriarchal mass
media was not interested in the more revolutionary vision, it never
received attention in mainstream press. The vision of “women’s liberation” which captured and still holds the public imagination was
the one representing women as wanting what men had. And this was
the vision that was easier to realize. Changes in our nation’s econ-
Given the reality of racism, it made sense that white men were
could maximize their freedom within the existing system. And they
more willing to consider women’s rights when the granting of those
could count on there being a lower class of exploited subordinated
rights could serve the interests of maintaining white supremacy. We
women to do the dirty work they were refusing to do. By accepting
can never forget that white women began to assert their need for
freedom after civil rights, just at the point when racial discrimination
and indeed colluding with the subordination of working-class and
society so that our nation would be fundamentally anti-sexist.
!
.1
was not anti-male or concerned with getting women the right to be
omy, economic depression, the loss of jobs, etc., made the climate
ripe for our nation’s citizens to accept the notion of gender equality
in the workforce.
overshadowed the original radical foundations of contemporary
feminism which called for reform as well as overall restructuring of
,I
While it was in the interest of mainstream white supremacist
capitalist patriarchy to suppress visionary feminist thinking which
like men, reformist feminists were also eager to silence these forces.
Reformist feminism became their route to class mobility. They
could break free of male domination in the workforce and be more
self-determining in their lifestyles. While sexism did not end, they
was ending and black people, especially black males, might have attained equality in the workforce with white men. Reformist feminist
thinking focusing primarily on equality with men in the workforce
,,
5
poor women, they not only ally themselves with the existing patriarchy and its concomitant sexism, they give themselves the right to lead
a double life, one where they are the equals of men in the workforce
and at home when they want to be. If they choose lesbianism they
have the privilege of being equals with men in the workforce while
using class power to create domestic lifestyles where they can
choose to have little or no contact with men.
Most women, especially privileged white women, ceased even
Lifestyle feminism ushered in the notion that there could be as
to consider revolutionary feminist visions, once they began to gain
economic power within the existing social structure. Ironically, rev-
many versions of feminism as there were women. Suddenly the politics
was being slowly removed from feminism. And the assumption pre-
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FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY
vailed that no matter what a woman’s politics, be she conservative
2
or liberal, she too could fit feminism into her existing lifestyle. Obviously this way of thinking has made feminism more acceptable because its underlying assumption is that women can be feminists
without fundamentally challenging and changing themselves or the
culture. For example, let’s take the issue of abortion. If feminism is a
movement to end sexist oppression, and depriving females of reproductive rights is a form of sexist oppression, then one cannot be
anti-choice and be feminist. A woman can insist she would never
CONSCIOUSNESS-RAISING
A Constant Change of Heart
choose to have an abortion while affirming her support of the right
of women to choose and still be an advocate of feminist politics. She
Feminists are made, not born. One does not become an advocate of
cannot be anti-abortion and a …
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