Bell Hooks Feminist Theory Analysis

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.

bell hooks states “Racist stereotypes of the strong, superhuman black woman are operative myths in the minds of many white women, allowing them to ignore the extent to which black women may play in the maintenance and perpetuation of that victimization” This quote is significant because commonly, people in minority races/cultures can experience injustice or micro aggressions, which often enact them conscious of their minority position within a dominant, majority culture/race. The minority may be aware that they are “outside the norm,” and perpetually speculate whether their segregation is or is not because of their race or culture. An individual of the majority, thus the prevailing “norm,” creates the privilege of not experiencing or questioning this perpetual segregation. However, this is the point at which we discover the double-bind. The minority feels secluded, aggravated, and feels as though it is their duty to always confront micro aggressions. When you do not speak in opposition to the aggressions, it is only letting segregation to persist. Yet, if you ...

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...of affairs with the white females ultimately exclude the black female from few of the only possible friends she can have and allows the majority, dominant “norm” to not experience these oppressions and loss of choices.

Ultimately, particular types of double-binds arise every day. It is evident that “being oppressed means the absence of choices” when cultural or racial minorities are observed as “too sensitive” when offense is taken in the power of a dominant culture or race. By not dealing with these matters, it permits these accounts to stay unknown and stay as something of arrogance to perpetuate and spread through society. It is apparent hooks’ definition of oppression demonstrates the double-bind in race relations, forcing the socially underprivileged minority to “never win,” and allowing the privileged “dominate norm” to never experience perpetual segregation.