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bell hooks Bell hooks, a feminist theorist and activist, wrote Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center in 1984. In the third chapter of the book titled The Significance of Feminist Movement she tried to explain the main ideas of true feminism, as after the second feminist wave many of them were interpreted wrong. Unfortunately the feminists themselves became the reason for the misleading. As the author wrote in the very beginning of the chapter, In their eagerness to highlight sexist injustice, women focused almost exclusively on the ideology and practice of male domination. Unfortunately, this made it appear that feminism was more a declaration of war between the sexes than a political struggle to end sexist oppression, a struggle that would imply change on the part of women and men. Hooks underlines the fact that it is only the radical feminists, bourgeois white women who argued that all men are enemies of all women and proposed as solutions to this problem a utopian woman nation, separatist communities, and even the subjugation or extermination of all men.
Then she adds: It did not strengthen public understanding of the significance of authentic feminist movement. According to bell hooks feminism should be defined as a movement to end sexist oppression, but not through the war between the sexes. There must not be a winner and a looser. Feminism is important both for men and women, because it is meant to enable both sexes to have equal social rights and liberate people from sexist oppression. Feminist movement can end the war between the sexes. It can transform relationships so that the alienation, competition, and dehumanization that characterize human interaction can be replaced with feelings of intimacy, mutuality, and camaraderie.
The author accuses liberal organizers of forgetting these positive implications of feminist movement and focusing only on superiority of feminism in their own lives, trying to defeat mens predominance. Many feminists of that period supposed that successful feminist movement would involve the abolition of family, as it was the only way to come to the end of sexist oppression. For bell hooks, on the contrary, family has an immense importance and plays a great role in the feminist theory. These are the words she wrote about the family: We wish to affirm the primacy of family life because we know that family ties are the only sustained support system for exploited and oppressed people. We wish to rid family life of the abusive dimensions created by sexist oppression without devaluing it.
Thus, not rejecting from family, but transforming family relations into a union based on ethic of communalism, shared responsibility, and mutuality is what devoted feminists should fight for and communicate to others. People must not think that anti-feminism is the way to improve family life. They must know that feminist movement is not against family. Another important thought that bell hooks tried to deliver to the readers is that true feminism is based first of all on the principles of humanism. The ones who support the war between the sexes are strongly criticized by the author, as well as the fact that some liberal feminists emphasized on social equality, but at the same time established organizations where they wanted a greater participant diversity: they wanted women who were not white, materially privileged, middle-class or college-educated. Being feminist means change relationships and bring equality to all social spheres, not take the place of men and make them womens servants.
Therefore feminism is important for everyone, this is what true feminist must explain to both women and men: equality in public or private life. Bell hooks had never underestimated the meaning of family, and the feminism from her point of view must save family. Here is how she described the significance of feminism for family life: The movement to end sexist oppression is the only social-change movement that will strengthen and sustain family life in all households. In The Significance of Feminist Movement the author tried to shatter the wrong ideas people could have about feminism. This chapter can be considered an appeal to the public for remembering the true principles of feminism, which are all pointed to ending sexist oppression and obtaining gender equality through improving relationships but not through war between the sexes.
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Research essay sample on Women And Men Bell Hooks
