FEMINIST MOVEMENT AND REVOLUTION

For hooks, the feminist movement is defined as the struggle to end sexist oppression globally. To accomplish this, the movement requires a commitment to reshaping culture so that it is free of all forms of domination and prioritizes self-development (hooks 1984: 24). Targeting other forms of domination is important because, in addition to exploiting both women and men, they perpetuate sexist oppression by precluding men from realizing the masculine privilege that they have been told they are entitled to which creates incentives to exercise power over women (hooks 1984: 31, 73-4). Further, she sees sexist oppression as pivotal because it is the form of domination that most people experience, whether they are the exploiter or the exploited, and it is the first type of group oppression that we are socialized to accept within our home lives as children prior to realizing that others exist (hooks 1984: 35). Also based on the interlocking nature of oppressive systems, she argues that ending sexist oppression will revitalize other anti-exploitation movements via the expanded capacity that would be realized if men were able to recognize women as comrades in struggle (hooks 1984: 40).

Importantly, hooks emphasizes that in contrast to mainstream feminist efforts, the movement to end sexist oppression is not the pursuit of personal autonomy or equality with white men that white women have championed and supported the continued oppression of other groups to pursue (hooks 1984: 14-5, 24). As such, she argues that Black women are uniquely positioned to create liberatory feminist praxis based on their lack of socialization to act as oppressors due to the absence of an institutionalized other. Given this, their worldviews are not distorted by privilege and their lived experiences directly challenge oppressive structures and ideologies (hooks 1984: 15). To address this schism in the feminist movement, hooks details the importance of women acknowledging their division and collectively developing strategies to minimize sexist, racist, classist, and homophobic tendencies among them (hooks 1984: 49, 58, 63). Additionally, women must learn and respect cultural codes (hooks 1984: 56) and stop equating psychological exploitation with material exploitation (hooks 1984: 60). These actions will allow women to unite in political solidarity to transform systems of domination (hooks 1984: 65). In further contrast to prevailing feminist efforts, hooks insists that if the movement to end sexist oppression is to be successful, women, children, and men must be allowed to participate equally (hooks 1984: 67). She argues that men should be encouraged to recognize the suffering they endure and perpetuate by engaging in sexist oppression, assume responsibility for eliminating it, and imagine meaningful lives that do not include the exploitation of women (hooks 1984:72). hooks sees their most important role in the feminist movement as exposing, confronting, opposing, and transforming the sexism embodied by their male peers (hooks 1984:81). She insists that women must affirm the revolutionary efforts of men by acknowledging them as comrades in struggle.

hooks envisions revolution as a commitment to protracted struggle that includes instituting reforms which transform social structures such that domination and dualism are replaced with ethics of communalism and mutuality (hooks 1984:158-9, 163, 63). At this stage in the feminist movement, she emphasizes the importance of reaching beyond rebellion to revolution, which requires supporting people in their political development and ensuring they understand the movement as working in their interests (hooks 1984: 160). Key beginning moments in mobilization include seeing and describing one’s reality (hooks 1984: 24-5) and recognizing the need to combat all forms of oppression based on their multi-constitutive nature (hooks 1984: 40-1). Subsequently, she argues that the feminist movement must work to help people develop the skills needed to imagine and institute alternative political and economic systems that are free of exploitation (hooks 1984: 159). Additionally, those involved in the movement must continually engage in critical evaluation of feminist theory to identify limitations and push for ideology that is liberatory, or that which understands, addresses, and incorporates the experiences of marginalized folks and focuses on possibility versus hatred (hooks 1984: 160, 162). As such, marginalized folks must be leaders of movement theory and practice who show love and compassion through dialogue and actions, acknowledge their relationships to the group, and are accountable to those relationships (hooks 1984: 161). Compassion is also central to liberation for hooks, as we have all been complicit in oppressive systems and in order to break free of them, we must facilitate consciousness development without assertions of political superiority (hooks 1984: 161-2).

RECOGNIZING VIOLENCE AND REIMAGINING POWER

Working effectively to end violence requires identifying its roots, recognizing its manifestations, and reimagining power. According to hooks, the origins of violence lie within the Western philosophical notion of hierarchical rule and coercive authority, and sexist oppression is inextricably linked to all acts of violence between the dominant and dominated (hooks 1984: 118). Although male violence is the epitome of hierarchical rule and coercive domination because it is the most overtly condoned, accepted, and celebrated, hooks insists that the feminist movement must not center male domination as it discourages women from interrogating the ways in which they perpetuate and inflict violence on children and people that they feel are inferior (hooks 1984: 91, 119). It also takes attention away from the cycles of violence that are perpetuated by capitalism, militarism, and imperialism (hooks 1984: 121, 123, 124, 128, 130). Key spaces within which violence is normalized include the parent-child and husband-wife relationships, media, and the workplace. Women must clarify the roles they play in upholding these systems of domination instead of equating violent systems with patriarchy and recognize that men are not innately more violent than women (hooks 1984: 126, 128). And men must redefine masculinity so that it does not involve exercising coercive power (hooks 1984: 122). Further, we must reformulate our understanding of power as domination and control toward power as a mechanism for collectively establishing systems devoid of exploitation (hooks 1984: 86). Actions that can contribute to this reimagining include the rejection of the powerful’s definition of our realities and the recognition that exercising basic personal power is an act of resistance and strength (hooks 1984: 90). hooks asserts that this recognition and redefinition of power will garner much broader support for the feminist movement by showing people the power they exercise daily and how they can best use it to combat exploitation (hooks 1984: 93).

HOOKS AND COOPER ON SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Despite at times writing nearly a century apart, hooks and Cooper share the conviction that an essential step forward for Black and feminist progress is centering the voices of Black women (Cooper 1886: 62-3; Cooper 1893: 204-5). They both critique the Black men and white women in control of these movements for not acting in the interests of other oppressed groups and cite it as a strategic mistake that stifles progress for everyone (Cooper 1886: 63, Cooper 1892c: 106-8; hooks 1984: 14-5). For Cooper, failing to effectively incorporate Black women into the feminist movement results in the problems women face due to racism being ignored (Cooper 1886: 62-3). For hooks, this failure results in a similarly narrow conceptualization, but it also means that they ignore the oppression of women that results from capitalism and imperialism. Both theorists agree that Black women in the United States have unique insight into structures of oppression based on their marginality which allows them to recognize that a multidimensional approach to progress is necessary (Cooper 1892b: 117). hooks, however, does not agree that women innately possess greater aptitudes for a morality of reciprocity than men or that masculine violence can be tempered by feminine disposition (Cooper1892b: 111-2; Cooper 1892c: 107). In contrast, hooks calls on both men and women to reform their behavior so that it is free of domination and combats exploitation. To emphasize the importance of a comprehensive focus on globalized violence that anyone has the ability to embody, hooks cites the shallow efforts of the feminist movement on militarism, work, and family which served to perpetuate racist, capitalist, and imperialist domination (hooks 1984: 98, 126). She insists that this cultural transformation away from violence is a revolutionary struggle, which Cooper argues is distinctly unamerican (Cooper 1902: 215). Cooper leaves little room for “bad manners,” which includes confronting those who execute oppressive laws (Cooper 1892c: 94) and “hatching dynamite plots” (Cooper 1902: 215).

HOOKS AND COOPER ON FAMILY AND EDUCATION

Alternatively, Cooper envisions a dissemination of “good manners,” or the moral ideology that can get us to universal reciprocity, from women, especially Black women, in structurally influential roles (Cooper 1892b:112-3; Cooper 1892c:90-1), mothers (Cooper 1886:62-3), and Christian education (Cooper 1902:212). hooks also identifies the family and education as key mechanisms in furthering social progress, but she calls for feminist reconfigurations of both. Regarding the family, she argues that the feminist movement must focus on the rights of children to effective childcare (hooks 1984: 140) and the dissolution of traditional gender roles within the home (hooks 1984: 137). To accomplish this, she recommends that we teach boys and girls to value housework and establish legal agreements between parents pertaining to childcare prior to birth (hooks 1984: 141), community-based public childcare centers with funding reallocated from the military (hooks 1984: 143), and a greater emphasis on caring for children who are already living versus our “own” children (hooks 1984: 145). In contrast, Cooper argues that mothers must harness their influence in the home to shape social conduct toward reciprocity (Cooper 1886: 62-4). She conceptualizes races and countries as the aggregation of households and contends that undesirable social interactions are the result of rot in the family.

Developing literacy among women is the central educational focus for hooks (hooks 1984: 107), and she recommends that programs be sponsored by men and women in academic institutions (hooks 1984: 109). Until literacy is achieved among the masses, she emphasizes the importance of spreading feminist ideas by word of mouth with door-to-door contact (hooks 1984: 109). She also highlights the liberation experienced by students who have the opportunity to participate in women’s studies classrooms (hooks 1984:110). hooks maintains that the liberatory power of the curricula must be made more widely available by academics offering courses at community centers (hooks 1984: 110) and translating feminist ideas to the masses who vary based on age, sex, ethnicity, and degree of literacy (hooks 1984: 111). Finally, she asserts that women must stop equating education with bourgeois privilege and cultivate the minds and center the voices of women of color if we are to develop liberatory feminist praxis (hooks 1984: 112, 114). Alternatively, Cooper argues that greater exposure to Christian education will elicit the empathy needed for unity among the weak and the powerful. She insists that this is because its teachings do not distinguish between race, gender, or class and require the same code of morality for all of humanity (Cooper 1886: 57; Cooper 1892a: 129; Cooper 1902: 212).

HOOKS AND COOPER ON CAPITALISM AND IMPERIALISM

The feminist theories put forth by hooks and Cooper diverge most on capitalism and imperialism. Cooper asserts that women should be able to move as freely as men in the labor market (Cooper 1892b: 116-7), but women’s role in the home is foundational to her vision of the path forward toward universal reciprocity, which presumably limits the space they have to pursue other work. She also does not substantively address the inhumanity of capitalism and imperialism as she praises the United States for its establishment and economic progress (Cooper 1892b: 109; Cooper 1942: 263), while only briefly discussing the brutality of American business culture (Cooper 1892b: 111). More specifically, she asserts that America cannot emerge from its spurious state and evolve into genuine Americanism without pro-immigration capitalism that is characterized by generous capital and powerful labor such that it is free of racism, sexism, and classism (Cooper 1892a: 126, 129). She argues that we achieve this by balancing the “cold businessman” with a feminine civil society that emanates the morality of reciprocity which Black women are best equipped to articulate (Cooper 1892b: 111-113). hooks, however, is committed to dismantling these oppressive systems with both short-term and long-term action. Beyond educating people about capitalism and imperialism, she recommends that the feminist movement focus on maximizing job opportunities for women, especially those who are unemployed, and imagine new economic programs like shortening the workweek, ending the family wage, expanding financial literacy, growing unions, and reforming welfare (hooks 1984: 101). Further, she argues that the feminist movement must strive to teach women to understand their work as contributions to society and value all the work that women do, whether paid or unpaid (hooks 1984: 102). Finally, she asserts that women must recognize the power of their consumption and use it to combat capitalism and imperialism (hooks 1984: 92).

CONCLUSION

bell hooks’s feminist theory is significant for many reasons, but perhaps most notably because it prioritizes the interrogation of violence. This focus has the potential to engage all members of society in the feminist movement and supports readers in developing nuanced understandings of themselves as both exploiters and exploited. Her assessments of the white bourgeois feminist movement and sexist oppression are illustrative of the importance of prioritizing violence. Without this focus, the fact that sexist, racist, capitalist, and imperialist systems of domination must be dismantled simultaneously would have continued to go unacknowledged by the masses. Further, framing violence as something we all have the potential to embody demonstrates the ways oppressive systems interact and results in more robust political consciousness that moves beyond dualism. This framing allows people to reflect on their individual experiences within a globalized white supremacist capitalist patriarchy and develop understandings of the systems that formed them and the roles they play in upholding them. These understandings support the development of political consciousness that empowers people to change oppressive systems by changing their behavior and organizing to change policy so that it promotes life-affirming experiences for everyone. hooks’s theory adds this conceptualization of violence to the feminist movement that expands its relevance so far beyond the narrow conceptualization of sexism that its white bourgeois leaders had been acting on.

Her reimagining of power is also profound. The fact that power does not require domination is a notion that frequently escapes common depictions of the concept. In mainstream narratives, power is almost exclusively mentioned in situations where control or coercion are also present. Her idea that there is a universe of power waiting for us that simultaneously empowers ourselves and others has true liberatory potential. This text supports people in understanding the power that is inherent in living according to self-definitions that maximize individual and societal health by recognizing the exploitation that is perpetuated by racist, classist, and sexist ideals. These self-definitions reject the oppressive ideals that our institutions force upon us and empower us to work to recreate our social systems so we can have lived experiences characterized by the appreciation and support that we deserve. Once enough of society has rejected oppressive norms, people will be able to engage in authentic interaction that is life-affirming. Prior to that, the people who embody this form of power provide a representation of selfhood that is empowering for those who have yet to recognize or act against their oppression. The space for self-definition that is free of oppressive ideals is essential in any liberatory project and her location of power within it shifts one’s political consciousness.

Two additional unique aspects of her work include the significant number of actionable recommendations that readers can put into practice in order to achieve feminist progress and her attempts to write accessibly. To move forward, her primary recommendation is the centering of Black women in reimagining systems devoid of exploitation because their marginality allows them to better see and work to minimize systematic violence in addition to the power they exercise based on their experiences of self-definition. Beyond that, she recommends a plethora of changes that people can make in their personal and political lives. Rarely does a theorist speak in such concrete terms as to outline dozens of family, economic, education, and policy goals that advocates can pursue. This emphasis on possibility further promotes the development of political consciousness by stimulating the imaginations of readers toward solutions. And finally, all of these important attributes are reinforced by her accessible communication style which she insists is a necessary priority for the feminist movement. Both features of her work make it practically relevant in a way that many social theories are not, which also functions to maximize the impact of the feminist movement.

The only thing this work would benefit from is a complete analysis of misogyny that extends beyond sexist oppression to the marginalization experienced by the queer community. She mentions the homophobia that the feminist movement suffers from, both among its participants and from women who withhold their allegiance because they do not want to be associated with lesbianism. Otherwise, she severely under-theorizes the impacts of misogyny on everyone within our patriarchal society. Further, she fails to center the experiences of trans and gender non-conforming people. The queer community could have provided her with valuable insight into the power that stems from self-definition and creating spaces in which violence is minimized. Despite this omission, Feminist Theory: from margin to center is a liberatory text that supports people in transforming society so that it is free of domination with an expert assessment of the feminist movement, new definitions of violence and power, and ample guidance for steps on the path forward.

REFERENCES

Cooper, Anna J. 2000. The Voice of Anna Julia Cooper: Including a Voice from the South and Other Important Essays, Papers, and Letters. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.

hooks, bell. 1978. And There We Wept: Poems. Los Angeles, California: Golemics.

hooks, bell. 1981. Ain’t I a Woman. Boston, Massachusetts: South End Press.

hooks, bell. 1984. Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Boston, Massachusetts: South End Press.

Quintana, Maria. 2010. “Bell Hooks/Gloria Jean Watkins (1952-2021) •.” Retrieved December 18, 2022 (https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hooks-bell-gloria-jean-watkins-1952/).

Risen, Clay. 2021. “Bell Hooks, Pathbreaking Black Feminist, Dies at 69.” The New York Times, December 15.