Bell Hook Oppression

Words: 1272

Pages: 6

Open Document

Oppression is the practice of treating someone less because, from one’s perspective, they are inferior and we are superior. In today's society, and throughout history globally there is an existence of a large variety of oppression such as heterosexism, racism, classism, and sexism. We live in a society where if you don’t belong to a certain social economic class, certain race and gender, you are automatically vulnerable to oppression. Unfortunately, I won’t dwell on a discussion of the different forms of oppression and its effects on the individuals being oppressed. In this paper, I will discuss Bell Hooks criticism of the feminist movement's ideologies on sexism being the higher form of oppression in her paper titled “Feminists: A Transformational Politic” and expand on her argument with a second paper …show more content…
Now the problem with this according to Hooks is that this often leads to discrimination, further separation, and lack of struggles being represented. Hook explains that based on your features, your struggle may be different to that of your sister who may have darker features. Those women who identify themselves as a member of a minority racial/ethnic group receive more oppression than those women who are members of the white race, but what happens in the feminist movement is that the struggle of the white women is the only one being represented and fighting for. Furthermore, Hooks points out that within women, we develop hatred and discriminate against each other based on the ethnic group that they belong to, causing unity between those women that belong to the same ethnic/racial group and further division with those women who belong to a different racial group. To conclude, Hooks explored how feminist thinkers and advocates build unity and a sense of connection with one another by victimizing themselves and establishing a common enemy to fight

Bell Hooks Oppression

Oppression is the practice of treating others as inferior based on one’s perspective of considering ourselves superior. In today's society and throughout history globally, there are various forms of oppression such as heterosexism, racism, classism, and sexism. We live in a society where individuals are vulnerable to being oppressed if they don’t belong to a certain socioeconomic class, race, or gender. I will not delve into a discussion of the diverse forms of oppression and their impacts on individuals…

Words 1252 - Pages 6

Columbus Forgotten And Spending Culture Summary

Fábián Réka EN-FI lll. 3175 / EN Dismantling dominant narratives Bell Hooks - Columbus: Gone but not Forgotten and Spending Culture: Marketing the black underclass Bell Hooks, or her by her birth name Gloria Jane Watkins was born in 1952 in Kentucky. Due to the segregation present in her life while growing up, especially living in the South, she experienced from a young age the difference in power and authority between white and black people. She adopted her pen name as a tribute to her maternal…

Words 1446 - Pages 6

Don T Believe Everything You Think Analysis

education by Adrienne Rich, Feminist Politics by Bell Hooks, and the movie Miss Representation, and what I found interesting/helpful. To start off, Feminist Politics applies to the motto “don’t believe everything you think” by the author Bell Hooks correcting the misunderstanding of the word feminism that is misunderstood by most people as anti-male and male domination through patriarchal society mass media by women who are committed to gender equality. Hooks gives her definition of feminism: movement…

Words 623 - Pages 3

Bell Hooks Killing Rage: Militant Resistance

In Killing Rage: Militant Resistance, bell hooks turns a personal experience of racism and sexism into an opportunity to advocate for the ownership of rage as a means to liberation. By exploring the notion of black rage, hooks helps bring awareness not only to the ways in which we can use this rage as a fuel for transformation, but also to accentuate the distinction between black rage as perceived by white society v. black rage for what it actually is. hooks argues against the notion of rage as “something…

Words 266 - Pages 2

The Limitations Of Third Wave Feminism

wave critique of beauty culture, sexual abuse, and power structures. It is an approach that develops multiple intersecting oppressions and accompanies complex identities. We do not live singled-issued lives and we must recognize the multiplicity of individual social identity. Cultural feminist scholars Audrey Lorde and bell hooks identify the intersectionality of oppression and critique white privilege. Therefore, they belong to third wave feminism, which is defined by the “challenges that women-of-color…

Words 494 - Pages 2

Women's Suffrage Movement Essay

Woman’s Suffrage movement of the 1800’s, women were looked as inanimate objects while men were men were looked upon as the superior: “imagine living in a world where there is no domination, where females and males are not alike or even always equal” (hooks, x). Women were supposed to follow the rules and be a True Woman. True Women are women who have “piety, purity, submissiveness and domesticity” (Welter, 152). It is said that they must have those characteristics in order to be happy. During this suffrage…

Words 475 - Pages 2

Dark Skin Tone In Film

subject under a “strict gender divide under patriarchy” (Marx). According to Janet McCabe, “attempts to understand the theoretical difficulties revealed an unconscious institutional oppression within the feminist discourse: namely, a style of thought involving white feminism and the Black woman” (67). According to bell hooks, while considering feminism and the “inferior status accorded women under…

Words 405 - Pages 2

The Piano - Not A Feminist Film Essay

on the part of Ada, that she is manipulating this man to get what she wants. This is not the case. If this was truly a feminist film she could have, and should have, said “NO”. But she didn’t. “No” wasn’t an option for her due to the pre-imposed oppression of women present…

Words 1816 - Pages 8

Five Characteristics Of Oppression

Oppression is cruel and unjust treatment to a particular group through systems that discriminate or give privilege to groups based on perceived or real differences (Shaw & Lee, 2015, p.54). In those systems of oppression, there are five characteristics, described by Iris Young, that gives and maintains power and privilege to one group by hurting another. The first characteristic described by Young in Shaw and Lee (2015) is exploitation, the transfer of energy and results of labor from the subordinated…

Words 1382 - Pages 6

Realm Of Manhood Analysis

Two assigned readings on manhood opened my eyes and made it more clear why men act in such a way and how the society shapes this kind of behavior. The society tends to test men in their everyday life by looking at what they do and how they do it. As an illustration, Kimmel reveals that: “Other men watch us, rank us, grant our acceptance into the realm of manhood” (p. 4). In other words, boys from the very young age try to act and clearly demonstrate that they are manly, because they are so afraid…

Words 439 - Pages 2