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Week 2 (January 27)
Hooks Ch 4-7
Happy Monday all! This week’s chapters really drove some perspective home for me. In chapter 4, we read about sisterhood and how women of different backgrounds, race, and class understood and acted on what sisterhood was all about. I had to keep in mind while I was reading that this book was written nearly 40 years ago, because even though so much has changed in our growing society, so much is still the same for us and sometimes it felt like I was reading a book that was written today. We read a lot about the different ways women were trying to move the feminist movement foward, but they were all in the wrong ways. There were the women who were pushing for the “I am a victim” movement and the anti-male movement which I believe were the biggest reasons why the feminist movement was falling down. First of all, not all men want to be in the “sexist and all powerful man role”. There were men back then fighting for women’s rights, even more so now than ever. But if we had kept on the “all men are stopping us” train, then we probably wouldn’t be as far along today as we are. The victim movement was also just really disturbing to me. Especially since other women were teaching each other than they were all “victims” to men and sexism. Hooks stated on page 46 that “It would be physcologically demoralizing for these women to bond with other women on the basis of shared victimization. They bond with other women on the basis of shared strengths and resources. This is the woman bonding feminist movement should encourage. It is this type of bonding that is the essence of sisterhood”.
Chapter 5 really brings men into perspective when it comes to how they are treated as well. Men are also oppressed but not all women saw that/still don’t see that. There were so many women who believed that the feminist movement was only for women, men had nothing to do with it, but that was so so wrong. As I mentioned earlier, not all men are bad. There are more men today than there were back then that believe women should be treated just as equal. Yes we have equal rights but there are still occurrences every day that pull women back down, showing again the need for the feminist movement. There are still many places who have a man and a woman working the same job, but the woman is still getting paid less. It is our job as women to continue to think that both men and women are in this movement together. Hooks stated on page 83, “Separatist ideology encourages us to believe that women alone can make feminist revolution- we cannot…..men have a tremendous contriibution to make to feminist struggle in the area of exposing, confronting, opposing, and transforming the sexism of their male peers”.
Chapter 6 was by far my favorite chapter this week. Mainly because I am all for women in powerful roles. Hooks really dives into the role of women in the workforce, the issue of women thinking all they need is more money to have more power, etc. When talking about women of power and stepping into a man’s role, Hooks mentioned on page 94 that it was never something that would happen in the United States as long as society continued to be the way it was. “As long as the United States is an imperialist, capitalist, patriarchal society, no large female majority can enter the existing ranks of the powerful”. Well I think that this chapter came at exactly the right time for us. No matter what political party you follow, no matter what race you are, the fact that for the first time in the history of our country we have a FEMALE vice president of the United States is AMAZING. If you are someone who can see above the current political party issue and just take into account what an amazing moment in history that this is for all women, then congratulations. This truly shows how much we as women have pushed forward since this book was written. Though things aren’t perfect yet in our country, this is only just the beginning for feminists everywhere. (Below are some great political comics that I think fit this piece)
In chapter 7, Hooks discussed the nature of work and how feminists can work together instead of degrading one another. She talked about how in the workforce, we commonly see women make fun of other women, especially those in a higher position than another. Though Hooks is writing this from what things were like in 1984, it is certainly very common still today in 2021. You see it not just in real life, but it is portrayed in movies and tv all the time! I think that if anything has stayed the same from any of these chapters, it is the fact that women are still catty. I’ve had to leave an amazing job because of the way women treated their other women coworkers! Hooks explains that in order to move the feminist movement in the future, women need to work together and help each other first, instead of solely fighting for ones own.
For my peers, did anything in these chapters stick out to you that I did not mention, or have you also felt as though most of the issues in these chapters have not changed/have had little improvement! Let me know what you think!
https://repeatingislands.com/2020/11/07/kamala-harris-daughter-of-jamaican-and-indian-immigrants-elected-nations-first-female-vice-president/
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/cartoons/vice-president-elect-kamala-harris-joe-biden-election-2020-20201110.html