Feminism for everybody: Book 1 of 52 for 2012

I think it will be quite a challenge for me, not because I find reading problematic, but because I read alot of stuff online, and in order to read a book, I have to be offline (even reading an ebook means I have to just read the book and not be tempted by the hyperlink (confession: I have an addiction to the hyperlink [you just never know where it will take you!])

Anyway, I’ve finished my first book!!!

It was called Feminism is for everybody by bell hooks. And it was/is fantastic! I thoroughly recommend it.

My biggest takeaways from this book

  • There have been generations of women who now reap the benefits of
    feminism without having gone through the necessary anti-patriarchy/anti-sexism work
    to fully understand anti-sexist beliefs. Hence, why some women treat
    women worse than some men do (especially women who have class privilege)
  • While I’m essentially pro-choice I’ve always struggle with being
    outspoken about abortion. hooks argues that it’s okay to not have an
    abortion yourself (or even contemplate it), but supporting the right of
    women to have them if they need them is a must. She further argues that pro-life (anti-abortion) is essentially anti-feminist. It’s anti-feminist because feminism is about working to overcome oppression of ALL women. The first women to be oppressed by an anti-abortion community are women who have little access to good healthcare. She argues that it’s a betrayal by women of privilege (normally White middle-class, educated, financially supported and/or financially independent women) to all other women, to support an anti-abortion community. She also argues, and this is an important point particularly for women who struggle to accept abortion, is that we must focus on doing more work
    around overall reproductive rights of all women, and abortion is only one part of that much larger issue. This is a timely insight given the debate this week over the interwebz about Melinda Tankard-Reist’s profile in a southern weekend paper and her declaration as a pro-life (ie. anti-abortion) feminist).
  • I love how bell hooks uses feminist movement as a verb (I think??) rather than
    a noun. I thought there book at typos when I first started reading it
    cause it wasnt “The feminist movement”, but she’d use sentences like:

The wrongminded notion of feminist movement which implied it was anti-male carried with it the wrongminded assumption where patriarchy and sexist thinking necessarily be an environemnt where patriarchy and sexist thinking would be absent.

See how she uses feminist movement? It’s like it’s something that isn’t set in time (ie. the 1960s or the 1970s) but is ongoing and continuous and never-ending.

  • Feminism is for everybody doesn’t go easy on women or even come down hard on men. It’s a challenge for us to name, talk about and discuss sexism and the impact of patriarchal power on both women and men. Her book is a plea to keep the conversation going.

There is so much good stuff in this book that I’m just going to have to buy a few copies and give them to all my children.

PS: Thanks to Sandra for lending me the book. Loved it!

NB: Disclosure – I’ve added this book to my Fishpond affiliate list.

Next book: I’m going to cheat and read a book that I need to read for work. It’s called Before the Aeroplane Dance. It’s going to be tough going as I have so much on this week. Onward…..

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *