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41 pages 1 hour read

bell hooks

Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

Nonfiction | Essay Collection | Adult | Published in 2000

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Themes

Patriarchy and Sexism

Throughout the book, hooks repeats the point that feminism identifies a significant problem with patriarchy and sexism. Her repetition of phrases like “sexist exploitation,” “sexist thought and action,” “institutionalized sexism,” and “male domination” all work together to impress upon the reader that the problem exists in sexist behavior within the realm of a patriarchal society, not in any individual or group of individuals, male or female. In fact, any time anyone, male or female, behaves according to the assumption that men are somehow superior to females and should have control over women, that individual is guilty of sexist thinking.

In Chapter 1, hooks explains that “most people do not understand sexism, or if they do, they think it is not a problem” (1). This mindset is exactly what hooks has set out to challenge by writing this book. As well, hooks is determined to clear up any confusion around the relationship between feminism and the true definition of sexism. Anti-sexist thought is not automatically anti-male, nor is an anti-sexist agenda limited to issues around gender equality like equal pay for equal work and the fair distribution of housework between men and women. hooks is adamant that sexism and patriarchy are just as damaging to boys and men as to girls and women, and women are just as capable as men of embodying sexist thought and practicing sexist behavior.

At the end of every chapter, without fail, hooks links the specific focus of the chapter to the sexist thought and patriarchal mindset that interfere with social progress. This book is as much about the problems of patriarchy and sexism as it is about feminism.

The Power of Education

hooks emphasizes the power of education throughout the book, whether in the form of an informal gathering at a community member’s home or a college-level women’s studies course or even a children’s book about women pioneers in science. Education is the key to a better world, one without sexist oppression and mutual respect between all individuals.

hooks relates her own personal experiences with mentors and professors while explaining the potential for good contained within all educational models. She acknowledges the limitations of academia, where jargon and specialized theories dominate the feminist conversation and exclude non-academics from contributing their ideas and experiences, but overall, she lauds the progress enabled by such gatherings of feminist men and women. Women’s studies programs at colleges and universities certainly deserve credit for the strides in feminist theory over the years, but these programs impact only the ones who attend the courses. hooks advocates for less formal, less academic education around feminism, education that takes the form of oral communication like conversation, radio shows and television programs that are accessible to all people.

The power of education has the potential to do damage as well as do good, as evidenced by the educational power of the mass media. hooks points out the many instances during which the mass media has selected an incomplete or erroneous idea or individual to represent feminism to the public; these misrepresentations have caused problems for feminism, as work is required to undo the false impressions espoused by the mass media.

Conflict as a Force for Positive Change

hooks takes the reader through a historical overview of the feminist movement, selecting relevant points to make depending on the focus of the chapter. In nearly every chapter, hooks discusses the internal conflicts amongst the different factions of feminists; these factions include reform feminists, revolutionary feminists, conservative women who represented feminism in the media, feminists who gave up feminism and turned back to the sexist status quo, and even feminist men who had their own factions within the male movement. Some of these conflicts may have slowed feminist progress, or even undermined progress altogether, but hooks’s tone regarding all of the conflict is generally neutral or positive. Out of conflict comes communication and the potential for positive and enduring change.

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