Bell Hooks

South End Press

Eagerly awaited new volume in the South End Press Classics series, with a new Preface by hooks.

Feminist Theory from Margin to Center

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Women in lower class and poor groups, particularly those who are non-white, would not have defined women's liberation as women gaining social equality with men since they are continually reminded in their everyday lives that all women do not share a common social status

Most people in the United States think of feminism or the more commonly used term "women's lib" as a movement that aims to make women the social equals of men. This broad definition, popularized by the media and mainstream segments of the movement, raises problematic questions. Since men are not equals in white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal class structure, which men do women want to be equal to? Do women share a common vision of what equality means? Implicit in this simplistic definition of women's liberation is a dismissal of race and class as factors that, in conjunction with sexism, determine the extent to which an individual will be discriminated against, exploited, or oppressed.

The positive impact of liberal reforms on women's lives should not lead to the assumption that they eradicate systems of domination.

Radical dimensions of liberal women's social protest will continue to serve as an ideological support system providing the necessary critical and analytical impetus for the mainte­ nance of a liberalism that aims to grant women greater equal­ ity of opportunity within the present white supremacist capi­talist, patriarchal state. Such liberal women's rights activism in its essence diminishes feminist struggle.

It is evident that society is more responsive to those "feminist" demands that are not threatening, that may even help maintain the status quo.

The willingness to see feminism as a lifestyle choice rather than a political commitment reflects the class nature of the movement. It is not surprising that the vast majority of women who equate feminism with alternative lifestyle are from middle class backgrounds, unmarried, college educated, often students who are without many of the social and economic responsibilities that working class and poor women who are laborers, parents, homemakers, and wives confront daily.

Often emphasis on identity and lifestyle is appealing because it creates a false sense that one is engaged in praxis.

Many women who would like to participate fully in liberation struggles (the fight against imperialism, racism, classism) are drained of their energies because they are contin­ually confronting and coping with sexist discrimination, exploitation, and oppression.

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A central tenet of modern feminist thought has been the assertion that "all women are oppressed.' This assertion implies that women share a common lot, that factors like class race, religion, sexual preference, etc. do not create a diversity of experience that determines the extent to which sexism will be an oppressive force in the lives of individual women. Sexism as a system of domination is institutionalized but it has never determined in an absolute way the fate of all women in this society.

Feminist Theory from Margin to Center quotes

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