During the second week of class, we were instructed to read a reading written by Bell Hooks titled “Come closer to Feminism.” This reading is what I consider to be a very important addition to this unit. Unit one is all about Making waves, Confronting Oppression. According to Frye, it is a fundamental claim of feminism that women are oppressed (Frye, 1983). Before taking upon this reading, my understanding of the feminist movement was not nearly as clear as it is now. After reading this short handbook, I too agree that feminism is for everybody.
In the reading, Come closer to feminism, Hooks main argument is that she wants to change the way people view feminism. She wants to leave people with a better understanding of what the feminist movement
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Instead people are allowing other people’s thoughts to brainwash their mind into believing that feminism is a bunch of negatives. This is a very serious matter because instead of people seeing the good in this particular movement, people have grown accustomed to believing what ignorant people have categorized feminism and feminist to be. Shallow minds are stating that feminists are “anti-men,” “a group of angry women,” and to even take it as far as labeling all feminist as lesbians. Unfortunately, they are missing the whole objective of the movement. “Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.” As soon as people understand the meaning behind feminism, we will see a more positive shift in the way people conceptualize
“I have no idea what a feminist is although I have heard the term before,” said Stewart. I told her not to feel bad because I did not know the meaning of the term until I took the class and gave her bell hooks’ definition. Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression. Although they do not have to be an activist, they should be pro-choice. “With that being said I don’t consider myself a feminist but I am pro-choice. I give advice and let others learn from experience. A person is going to do what they want so I don’t push my opinion off on others.” While others have a clue to what a feminist is but do not fully understand their purpose. “I think a feminist is someone who wants more equal rights for women but take it to the extreme,” said Nia. I explained to her that a feminist does not have to be an extreme activist. Her response was “I still don’t consider myself a feminist because I don’t really care about trying to make a change for women’s rights. I think it’s as good as it is going to get,” said
In her novel called “Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center” one of the many areas bell hooks speaks of is the perpetual racial confinement of oppressed black women. The term double-bind comes to mind when she says “being oppressed means the absence of choices” (hooks 5). The double-bind is “circumstances in which choices are condensed to a few and every choice leads to segregation, fault or denial” Therefore, this essay will discuss how hooks’ definition of oppression demonstrates the double-bind in race relations, forcing the socially underprivileged minority to “never win,” and as a result allowing the privileged dominate “norm” to not experience perpetual segregation.
The feminism movement is often looked at in a negative light and women, especially, don’t even know what
After reading the “Introduction to Women’s Studies Concepts” power point the pieces from hooks, Hull and Smith, Kimmel, and Yap are important to feminist literature because they all talk about a different aspect of feminism. In Talking Back by Bell Hooks, the woman explains how it was not okay for her to speak or ask whatever she wanted. “In the world of the southern black community that I grew up in, “back talk” and “talking back” meant speaking as an equal to an authority figure” (1). In the past women were not allowed to just speak their mind it was ‘wrong’. This story demonstrates the black racism involved with feminism. People opened their ears to what the black men had to say, but they could easily block out what the black women had to say. The Politics of Black Women’s Studies by Hull and Smith also dealt with black racism taking place. The men were sexist and the white women were racist. Where did this leave place for the black women? In Men and Women’s Studies: Premises, Perils, and Promise by Kimmel sexism and racism. This short story talks about how women’s studies lea...
Feminism can simply be defined as a range of movements and ideologies in which share a common ground in terms of defining, establishing and achieving equal opportunities to that of males, in regards to economic, cultural and social rights. It is a critique of male supremacy with efforts in changing this to end the social oppression of women. (Hooks, 2000)
“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 in a world where we can all be who we are, a world of peace and possibility.” (Feminism is for everybody, page 8). This particular quote from the assigned reading really spoke to me. How amazing would it be to live in a world where no one group dominates another, or more importantly no one group discriminates one another. Obviously, just as bell hooks’ said following this quote, the feminist movement cannot do all of this alone. There are so many other things going on in the world that need attention as well, such as racism, class exclusivity, and imperialism. Over the past few years I have become more informed on the feminist movement and the assigned reading only heightened my
making public to believe that feminism is a man-hating hate group. In the novel ‘We should all be Feminist’
In her book Talking Back: Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black, bell hooks describes how she helps her students find their voice within her classroom.She discusses her use of authority to enable her students.For her, teacher authority is a necessary part of helping her students find their voices:
The movement to extend equal rights to women is the main goal of feminism, which is a great thing. However, the media portrays feminism in a much more negative light. Media often portrays feminism as crazy women who view men in a negative light, that want more rights than men. In turn, a negative response comes out of this misinterpretation, even causing people to even identify themselves as “anti-feminist”. A sad reality in todays world caused by various aspects. One of the major reasons feminism is seen in a negative light is because some women claim they are feminists, however are strongly misguided on exactly what the principles of feminism entail. Many women consider themselves to be feminists, but will actually end up attacking men, which in turn causes feminism to be associated in a negative manor or even be considered a hate group. This ends up being very counterproductive, making no progress toward the ultimate goal of feminism which is simply to reach equality in various aspects of society. Another example of a hate group being counterproductive for a movement is the “Black lives matter” movement. This movement stemmed from the ultimate goal to reach equal rights between races, but has turned in to a hate group which advocated the exact opposite. Seeing the group in which the movements goal is to attaint equal rights with as the enemy is the
Feminism is the movement for removing inequalities from society. Women imbued with a spirit of radicalism understand that a liberal feminist attitude, despite the seeming slowness of change that accompanies it, may transform a community more rapidly than a revolutionary approach that alienates those to be convinced and, thus, extinguishes the possibility of improvement. (Weaver 49) Feminists confront the problems of their society in hopes of altering society to be equal.
Feminism is a word that is stock-full of implications, and has many misconceptions. Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti attempts to give a broad overview of what feminism is, and how you should feel about it (hint: it’s positively). The book is directed primarily towards the younger generation, and talks about a variety of issues relevant to the feminist movement today and in history. The weaknesses of the book include the casual writing, the assumptions Valenti makes, and the contradictory statements that are consistently made. The strengths include providing an entertaining, broad overview of feminism, and discussing ways to contribute to gender equality. Overall, the book is more likely to be a positive experience for high-schoolers that identify as women then college-aged individuals looking for a critical analysis of issues society faces in regards to gender inequality.
The term “feminism” tends to have a negative connotation in today’s culture. Feminism is now focusing on female dominance and male disrespect. Women are fighting for equality, yet using personal bias to define equality, claiming identical rights for all will produce an equal culture. The mainstream feminist movement is using this corrupted view of equality to force rights of women. Contrary to popular belief, true feminism fights for true equality for women, as well as other people groups. The false view of feminism causes women to distort gender roles, dishonor themselves, and degrade men.
In the book Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center written by bell hooks, an African-American author, social activist and feminist first published in 1984 the author explains what she believes are the core principles of feminism. Throughout the book the author examines the early feminist theory and goes on to criticize it saying that it did not aim for a systematic change also that the movement has the potential to improve the lives of both men and women immensely. In the book the author investigates the performance of African-American women in the movement and what is needed to drive the movement towards ending oppression of all kinds.
The term feminism has a lot of misunderstanding and confusion many people think that the term Feminism or being Feminist is only for women . what they don't know is that Feminism is the belief in the social, political and economic equality of the sexes. So many people don't understand what feminism is and where the word originated form so they think of it as a stereotypes. As to where they believe that women want to take control of everything and push mens way. Which it not truth for any means and the word for Feminism is for everyone. Setting in my history class i remember my teacher going over feminism and tell us the people that called them self feminist. I remember that we didn't really get in depth about what being feminism is and what
Even though society has distorted the ideals feminism was founded upon, some of the remaining true roots still hold true. While women are gaining equal opportunities in society, they need to not diminish the importance of working together with men to form a functional society. The widespread idea of quotas needs to be analyzed. People should be accepted into college or hired for a job because they are the most qualified, not because of their sex. Society has demented feminism as a harmful dogma because it has been an excuse, almost a cop-out by women who do not want to work for their acceptance. Both men and women need to realize the necessity that exists for each other to make society work.