Bell Hooks Feminist Politics Where We Stand Analysis

In bell hooks’s essay, “Feminist Politics: Where We Stand”, she discusses the loss direction and meaning behind feminism, and therefore a loss of momentum as well. The word ‘feminism’ today has been pegged as a movement embraced by a group of man-hating, power hungry women who want everything men have. Thus, many women refuse to be identified as feminists. A newspaper article written by Sarah Boesveld in the National Post called ‘Not all feminists: How modern feminism has become complicated, messy and sometimes alienating’ discusses a post on Tumblr that said, “I don’t need ‘feminism’ because I don’t need a label defining me. It’s the 21st century in America and being female is seriously the best” (Boesveld). As bell hooks would likely argue, …show more content…
The focus of this definition on “ensuring they have the opportunities to succeed” lines up well with hooks’s urge for everyone to battle sexism. Sexism put simply is discrimination based on gender. This discrimination limits the social, economic, and political opportunities women have. However, the news article also acknowledges that no two women will value or define feminism in the same way. For example, while one feminist may see abortion as a right for any woman, another may see it as wrong, based on what she values as human life. In any case, if a feminist believes that the true purpose of feminism is “to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression” (Davis, 225) then the path of feminism is clear and can gain momentum. But if a feminist is leaning towards the opposite end of the pendulum that believes in being anti-male and ‘power to women’, the movement will alienate both men and women