Feminism is for Everybody :: Free Essays Online

Feminism is for Everybody The following paragraphs are an excerpt from a paper written about the political and social theories of bell hooks. These sections focus specifically on her newest book, Feminism is for Everybody. Throughout her works, hooks maintains a firm belief in the accessibility of the theory she seeks to situate within society. To that end, hooks’ latest work, Feminism is for Everybody, is an accessible book that outlines the basic tenants of a radical feminist theory. More inclusive than many of her other works, this book attempts to address an audience that is completely unfamiliar with feminist thought. In the introduction, hooks discusses the rampant misconceptions surrounding the movement. In her encounters with people on a daily basis, she finds that: â€Å"When I ask these same folks about the feminist books or magazines they read, when I ask them about the feminist talks they have heard, about the feminist activists they know, they respond by letting me know that everything they know about feminism has come into their lives thirdhand [sic], that they really have not come close enough to the feminist movement to know what really happens, what it’s really about. Mostly they think feminism is a bunch of angry women who want to be like men. (vii). It is these misconceptions that hooks feels must be corrected. Only in this way will the everyday relevance of feminism become clear. Hooks goes on to explain that this book is an effort to answer the question â€Å"what is feminism† in a clear, concise way that is not reductive to her readers (viii). She stressed the failure of the feminist movement to produce a multitude of works that are accessible and useful in many arenas. Many of the chapters in Feminism is for Everybody recapitulate and simplify the arguments put forth in Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Hooks attempts to diffuse common myths surrounding the feminist movement, and to that end, she suggests ways the movement may become all-inclusive. In the section entitled â€Å"Feminist Masculinity† hooks discusses the dichotomy perpetuated by Second Wave feminists who sought to classify the male as the â€Å"enemy†. The polarization of men as the â€Å"oppressor† and woman as the â€Å"oppressed† propelled the women’s movement initially, but it was not long before women were able to step back and realize that the system itself was flawed (68).