Misinterpretation Of Slavery In Bell Hook's 'Understanding Patriarchy'

In Bell Hooks writing piece “Understanding Patriarchy”, she gives her personal experiences and insight as to how patriarchy is a disadvantage to both men and women and how it is hurtful to societal functionality as a whole. She talks about the misinterpretation of the meaning of patriarchy. “Patriarchy is a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence.” Hooks feels that the solvent to the toxicities of patriarchy is to stop pretending that patriarchy just affects women; she feels the word has

Both her mother and father were victims of the vicious patriarchal ideals and they passed it on their son and daughter. Her and her older brother were examples of what patriarchy indicates not to be. Although she was the younger girl sibling, she was a little aggressive, competitive and good at “marbles,” which was deemed a boy’s game. While her brother was more gentle and quiet as a child, he was the perfect example of boys being brutalized and victimized by patriarchy then later in their adult life they embody that exact patriarchal masculinity that they once were a victim of. Hooks ultimately feels that patriarchy is so widely normalized through complacency and no one is interested dismantling it, even though it is dangerous to all

Patriarchy does not just demean women and place men on a pedestal. It is all just a facade, an illusion that men ought to be natural leaders, physically strong, thinkers, protectors. Men are not to have or express emotions. While women are supposed to be soft, emotionally vulnerable and nurtures. She was onto this ideal that I believe so strongly that both men and women are above all, human. We all bleed, naturally have emotions, and we all have to potential and power to be leaders. Men can be caretakers, while women can very well be strategizers. I grew up in a household similar to Hooks, I had older and younger brothers and our religion gave off the notion that men were superior. Although, I was raised in a mostly single mother household and my mother was the most patriarchal advocate known-to-man. This was all imposed by Christian religious dogma. Although, her ex-husband was an abusive drug-abuser, she somehow held a him in very high-regard simply because he was a man. She was the type of woman who always needed a man in the household to feel whole. He could have unforgivable flaws and all, she just needed a man in the house for the aesthetic reasons and because that what religion teaches us and so the church won’t look down on her. I grew up believing her mindset was a disease. I just couldn't get past her reasoning and I knew early on I wanted out of this