Week 25: bell hooks - Feminism is for Everybody
To wrap up our month celebrating women, let’s take a moment to recognize one of the most iconic feminists, bell hooks.
bell hooks (1952-2021), born Gloria Jean Watkins, was an author, feminist, activist, and scholar. She chose to spell her name in lowercase to shift attention toward her ideas rather than toward her identity. bell hooks attended a segregated school up until college, graduating from Stanford in 1973. In her life, she created over 70 pieces of published work ranging from films to children’s books. She is best known for her groundbreaking work on the intersection of race, gender, and class, particularly in the context of feminism and social justice, and her emphasis on love as a tool for resistance and liberation.
There is a misconception that feminism means hating men or making life harder for white men and that feminists are just angry lesbians who want to be like men. hooks believed that, “feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.” From this perspective, the problem is not men, it is sexism that both men and women are complicit in.
In her own words, bell hooks said,
"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."
“Visionary feminism is a wise and loving politics. It is rooted in the love of male and female being, refusing to privilege one over the other. The soul of feminist politics is the commitment to ending patriarchal domination of women and men, girls and boys.”
"If any female feels she need anything beyond herself to legitimate and validate her existence, she is already giving away her power to be self-defining, her agency."
To hear some more of bell hooks’ wisdom, watch this 3 minute video of her conversation with Laverne Cox, actress and LGBTQ+ activist, about feminism. bell hooks and Laverne Cox Discuss "What is Feminism?" I The New School
