Feminism Is For Everybody Summary

Feminism is for Everybody, by bell hooks (2000), examines feminist perspective and theory politically, racially, economically, and socially within context to everyday life. Utilizing past experiences and perspective knowledge in a stylistic and accessible manner, hooks (2000) encapsulates a feminist vision for future endeavors towards an equal society. Within her critical analysis, hooks implicates several current issues affecting society, including reproductive rights, violence, parenting, love, race, work, and class. Concurrently, she initiates feminist thought and theory as a means of historical explanations and defining what, why, and how each concept consciously or unconsciously impacts our thoughts, opinions, actions, and norms. Optimistically,

The author’s perception towards media implicates a truth surrounding our society more than ever. Media influences society politically, economically, and socially. Most people, especially the youth, accept the reality media constructs (Couldry, 2012). For instance, mainstream media coverage of reproductive rights. Usually, and in my opinion, the question of abortion or insurance coverage of birth control frequents media coverage. We, generally speaking, accept the information given by media as authentic, accurate, and sincere (Couldry, 2012). Furthermore, hooks (2000) calls for more of a feminist mainstream media or a consciousness-raising providing an alternative for society. “Most people have no understanding of the myriad ways feminism has positively changed all our lives” (hooks, 2000, p. 24). This would allow society another perspective besides democratic or republican viewpoints. Currently, one must know or research where to find a feministic perspective within media. Personally, the author’s notion makes sense. We deem ourselves, as equals when in reality is it fallacious. As society relies more and more on technology, media must be scrutinizes in terms of who has the power of said technological advances, particularly within

Furthermore, hooks (2000) candidly expresses, “All white women in this nation know that whiteness is a privileged category. The fact that females may choose to repress or deny this knowledge does not mean they are ignorant: it means that they are in denial” (p. 55). Perhaps, most women in this nation recognize whiteness as a privileged category, yet how is whiteness defined beyond privileged? If I asked a white person to define whiteness, in my opinion, eight times out of ten the person would not know how to answer, point to an ethnicity (i.e. Irish), or simply respond American. Undoubtedly, the author’s assertions of race and racism do illustrate the feminist struggle grappling with this topic and how it fits within feminism. Furthermore, she suggests past struggles and triumphs create a solid foundation for present and future feminists building a mass-based antiracist feminist movement (hooks, 2000, p. 60). Perhaps this suggestion could reach fruition within feminist groups, feminist individuals or maybe even small communities, but working as a whole nation is idealistic. Whiteness is difficult to remove as the unspoken norm or as unmarked category with American society (Rosenblum & Travis, 2012,