hooks, bell. ed., Feminism Is For Everybody Passionate Politics (South End Press, 7 Brookline Street, #1, Cambridge, MA 02139).
Feminism is for everybody is a political book that addresses the ideas of women's rights as a whole entire gender as well as individually. The book also ties the Civil Rights Movement as a catalyst for a feminist movement. The book is mainly written chronologically which shows the progression in thinking of the world. She writes about when she first saw and experienced sexist actions and how she had to cope with it at Stanford University. She touched on the bra burning period as a form of rebellion from sexist clothing companies. She also talked about how rappers degraded women and found nothing wrong
…show more content…
Females, under the pressure of a male dominated society, purge their stomachs in order to maintain their thin frame. "Challenging the industry of sexist-defined fashion opened up the space for females to examine for the first time in our lives the pathological, life-threatening aspects of appearance obsession" (pg. 33). This obsession is unfortunate because it takes control of our everyday lives. We base what we wear and how we look on what we hope is acceptable in general society. The book is not written to be presented to the masses. High school reading ability is definitely needed in order to retain and acknowledge the knowledge in this book. "Parasitic class relations have overshadowed issues of race, nation, and gender in contemporary neocolonialism in white supremacist capitalist patriarchal Western culture neocolonial "(pg. 44). The wording is deterring a large majority of readers either female or male, due to the word selection. Most human beings do not have a large vernacular and therefore cannot comprehend the message she is trying to relay. If she wants the book to be more effective I would advise her to use better word selection or use explanation sentences around difficult sentences. The book reinforces what I already know about the world and its sexist ideals that it bestows willingly or unwillingly upon women. It is not a surprise that sexism ties into racism. It is a form of oppression that is acknowledged, but we as human beings have
bell hook is a famous feminist author who wrote the book “Feminism Is For Everybody” hooks attempt to create a quick, simple start on feminist history, theory, and politics to the masses who receive a misinformation, misunderstood, and maligned version of the feminist movement. Hooks says “To understand feminism it implies one has to necessarily understand sexism”.We define feminism as the advocacy of women 's rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.Where she simply define and shows that being feminism does not mean women have to become mean or they are better than men,she simply saying that men and women need to be equal like the civil right movements. The book begins with a brief statement of feminist political positions, then discusses some history of the movement.She discusses the change in the movement from personal to groups where women have close relationships with one another and began to feel personally empowered by their participation in the establishment of large, and how some women feel like they are working for the high middle-class women.Every single time it doesn’t matter you a women or men, you will always have someone in the higher level than you.hooks feel like it will very exciting for the women who have the power to work with other so they could build each other up..Hooks views the formation of large women’s organizations as the beginning of a stage where the movement took on the role of
Douglas’ humorous and well informed way of writing really inspired me. From examples of magazines, media, television shows, films, retail, and even in music she described and compared to us what is going on among these examples and how real women today are really living their lives. Douglas presents an analysis of how women are presented to the public and how we continue to be treated as inferior to men despite the strides of feminism. After reading this book, I even find myself reading or watching something and pretty much look to see if it is women friendly or not. This is something I really never done before until now. This book definitely got me to think about feminism and the role it plays in my life.
Being that the majority of the characters in the novel are male, as the reader, you might not quit grasp the concept of feminism right away. Feminism is widespread throughout the story and gradually portrays a clear image of what life was like for women. Some women go along with the concept by obeying and others go against it and live their own way. This, in so many ways, allows for understanding of the life of women during this time.
I sincerely mean that when I say I did not know. The fact that in 1974 Congress passed a ban on sex discrimination is actually just surprising because I never realized that women were discriminated this severely. Just by reading I was almost felt as if I was being offended by Sylvia Peterson’s client. To me it sounds like people just did not have a filter. Her client said to her when she asked why she was given the cold shoulder after buying a house, “‘Well, you bought this house,” her client retorted. “You can't buy a house without being married” (Collins 251). How about we stop jumping to conclusions? I have gotten a sense that this book is just full of conclusion jumpers. For example, women are just automatically bad at sports and if you did this then that means you did that. I think it is pretty sad actually that Sylvia was not even able to buy herself a house without getting attacked, even after doing nothing
While this allows information to easily be understood it does not make the book very interesting. This book reads more as a history textbook rather than a nonfiction novel. This allowed for a great understanding of the history of women and the evolution that took place in their roles in society. Unfortunately, this approach to writing leaves little room for an emotional attachment to the characters or the story line. An example of this factual writing style is shown through the quote, “In the following chapters, we will consider how ordinary women related to social feminist reform, what roles they played in advancing social change, and the impact of postindustrial developments like industrialization, urbanization, and immigration on reform agendas, as well as how these changes impacted urban reform and why” (Moon 2). From this portion of the text one can see how factual Moon portrays the history of women’s rights even though it is not entertaining.
Feminism has become an ugly word. Some say it does not even live up to its definition anymore. However, the definition remains unchanged in the pages of history. Webster’s Third New International Dictionary’s definition of Feminism reads, “The theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes.” If one digs deep into this definition, beyond the surface of society’s view on feminism today, one can see that feminism would benefit both sexes. The true ideals of feminism break down gender roles, thus benefitting men, women and future generations.
Society constantly redefines what beauty is in women, and yet women always feel compelled to conform to society’s definition of beauty. The insecurity of women today adhere to society’s definition of beauty. By conforming to society’s definition beauty they are rewarded with confidence. According to Bordo (1989), anorexia built bodies has become the norm for women today. Most clothing stores accommodate to these body figures by selling majority small and medium framed clothing. Tight and skinny bodies were defined as the next generation of beauty, where priorly in the social symbolism of a small frame was associated with being poor. It was known that those with a bulging stomach was a powerful
In Feminism is for Everybody, hooks introduces a popular theory of feminism rooted in common sense and the wisdom of her own personal experience. In my opinion, hooks’ book is perfectly poised to become THE OFFICIAL “handbook” or “cliff notes” to feminism. Although it’s short, Feminism is for Everybody is powerful. It addresses all of the most prevalent issues facing the contemporary feminist movement, everything from where feminism stands, reproductive choice, beauty, violence, race, class, work, all the way to where feminism will go in the future. She uses simple, direct language to express complex issues. However, that is not to say that she “dumbs-down” such topics. Rather, she makes them more comprehensible to those not as familiar with feminism as a discipline. This book offers everyone (man or woman) a chance to explore feminism. It serves as an eye-opener to all those “would be” feminists who are afraid to label themselves as such for fear of being called a man hater or worse, a lesbian! She dispels these myths and others, forcing her audience
Feminism is most often thought of as a method used for educating society on the rights of women. It teaches that men and women are equal in every way both civil and societal. Charlotte Bunch, realizing that this is not always the case, also defined feminism as "a way of looking at the world a questioning of power and domination issues". A great deal of feminists attempt to ignore the ideas of a stereotypical women and move them away from people who don’t. They fight to find, study, and do away with biases in a world filled with ignorant men who see women only as objects and not equals. There are however, women who announce their immense intellect, wealth, and vibrant and free personalities to those who oppress them. A woman
I completely agree with you Dana! I love that this history book shows both sides of the story as well. Its very interesting and helps me stay engaged because the whole time I am reading and I am thinking about all the possible sides and stories that go along with each event. I haven’t ever read anything like it. To respond to your thoughts on women in the work place, I too present my self as perfectly capable as my male coworkers. While I haven’t experienced discrimination as far as pay (In fact I am actually one of the highest paid managers) I have definitely experienced different treatment because I am a female. For instance, the men at my work will always ask if I need them to help me take out the trash or bring boxes to storage even though
Many people are often misinformed or given bad first impressions of feminism. However, feminism is equal rights for all people of different race, sex, gender, and sexuality. Many of the people that give feminism a bad name, include a self-proclaimed feminist that is running for presidency, and meninists who are satirical equal rights activists. In reality, feminism is pro-gender equality and opportunities for all types of people.
Feminism as we know it began in the mid 1960's as the Women's Liberation Movement. Among its chief tenants is the idea of women's empowerment, the idea that women are capable of doing and should be allowed to do anything men can do. Feminists believe that neither sex is naturally superior. They stand behind the idea that women are inherently just as strong and intelligent as the so-called stronger sex. Many writers have taken up the cause of feminism in their work. One of the most well known writers to deal with feminist themes is Margaret Atwood. Her work is clearly influenced by the movement and many literary critics, as well as Atwood herself, have identified her as a feminist writer.
According to Hooks (2000) as cited in Considine and Dukelow (2009:141) “Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression”. It is necessary to explain the different types of feminism that are present in society first. Freedman
Women’s rights have been a question greatly discussed for quite some time, and the debate is still continuing despite the possibilities offered to women today. Feminism nowadays has evolved into a movement in a number of directions, starting with women equality and ending with homosexuality. However, feminism originally is an ideology that is based on equal political, economic and social rights for women. Feminism theory deals with analysing women’s social roles and experiences in relation to gender inequality. Traces of this ideology are vastly represented and can be found in a number of literary works, as notable examples are novels written by female authors (the Brontë sisters, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot and others) during the Age
Throughout the last century, women have had to fight to have the same opportunities as men. Women have had to earn the right to vote, the right to have a career, and the right to autonomy. However, these are all rights that men have simply been given, which is why today’s feminists work to promote equality. Despite these efforts, feminism is often misunderstood and is interpreted with a negative connotation. According to a study conducted by Precopio and Ramsey (2017), “feminism is commonly recognized as a movement driven to grant social, political, and economic equality to both women and men.” The participation of others besides women is crucial to the spread of equality among the genders. Furthermore, the stigma and negative feelings surrounding feminism must be reduced in order for the ideals of feminism to have a greater impact.