Feminism is for everybody - bell hooks

January 9, 2013 10:14 AM

Each time I leave one of these encounters [with anti-feminists], I want to have in my hand a little book so that I can say, read this book, and it will tell you what feminism is, what the movement is about. I want to be holding in my hand a concise, fairly easy to read and understand book; not a long book, not a book thick with hard to understand jargon and academic language, but a straightforward, clear book - easy to read without being simplistic. From the moment feminist thinking, politics, and practice changed my life, I have wanted this book. I have wanted to give it to the folk I love so that they can understand better this cause, this feminist politics I believe in so deeply, that is the foundation of my political life. (...) I have written this short handbook, the book I have spent more than 20 years longing for. I had to write it because I kept waiting for it to appear, and it did not. (PDF)
posted by Blasdelb (15 comments total)

Thanks for this!
posted by nonmerci at 10:19 AM on January 9, 2013

I am looking forward to reading this.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:22 AM on January 9, 2013

Incidentally, the wiki page for the author: bell hooks
posted by Blasdelb at 10:24 AM on January 9, 2013

I think I may want to read this book. I have had a growing interest in feminism lately, but don't really know where to start, and most discussions are not actually all that welcoming to people who aren't already versed in feminist concepts. Just terminology like "rape culture" immediately put entire demographics (i.e., men, including myself) on the defensive ("Rape culture? Really? I'm a man and I've never raped anyone..."), and then if you start saying anything like "Isn't that term a little over-the-top?" it's easy to get accused of complicity rather than, say, ignorance or simply unfamiliarity with what is essentially jargon.
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 10:24 AM on January 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Heh. I was gonna say, "duh, why doesn't he/she just get that bell hooks book ..." oh.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:27 AM on January 9, 2013 [3 favorites]

For what it's worth, Toril Moi does I think a really good job at this already: Sexual/Textual Politics and What is a Woman? are two examples.
posted by nonmerci at 10:29 AM on January 9, 2013

I had an admittedly quick look over the intro but I didn't see a place where she talks about this , but surely it's a major question.

IIRC, she discusses several failures of the feminist movement (addressing female parental violence is one I remember distinctly), and does offer some reasons why. I believe she does address the subject to which you refer.

Highly recommended.
posted by mrgrimm at 10:30 AM on January 9, 2013

Blasdelb, are you sure the libcom.org site has rights to publish this scanned (but copyrighted) book? It seems a little weird to link to a whole book that is still for sale in various places.
posted by mathowie at 10:30 AM on January 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

How does libcom work? They could do a better job of indicating what kind of license they are distributing stuff under. Their page for the book says it was posted to the site by someone named "Joseph Kay". But it's basically a scan of a book that is available for sale elsewhere. Just wondering if it is legit or not, it looks like an interesting site.
posted by oulipian at 10:30 AM on January 9, 2013

But seriously, what so called anti-feminist would read such a thing? Start with a no-jargon pamphlet perhaps.
posted by 2bucksplus at 10:32 AM on January 9, 2013

But seriously, what so called anti-feminist would read such a thing? Start with a no-jargon pamphlet perhaps.

From the link:

I have wanted [people] to have an answer to the question "what is feminism?" that is rooted neither in fear nor fantasy. I have wanted them to have this simple definition to read again and again so they know: "Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression." I love this definition [...] because it so clearly states that the movement is not about being anti-male. It makes it clear that the problem is sexism. And that clarity helps us remember that all of us, female and male, have been socialized from birth on to accept sexist thought and action.

posted by fraula at 10:43 AM on January 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Just terminology like "rape culture" immediately put entire demographics (i.e., men, including myself) on the defensive

Some people are always going to feel defensive when an uncomfortable truth is pointed out, I guess, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't be done.
posted by threeants at 10:47 AM on January 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

Yeah, it looks like South End Press is still actively selling the exact book in the PDF.
posted by griphus at 10:47 AM on January 9, 2013

I love bell hooks...but I too am a little uneasy about the pdf being a scan of the entire book (I had incorrectly assumed it was a link to an article about the book, not the book itself).
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 10:51 AM on January 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

"Blasdelb, are you sure the libcom.org site has rights to publish this scanned (but copyrighted) book? It seems a little weird to link to a whole book that is still for sale in various places."

I am not, though a quick search before posting showed that various PDFs were the top google hits and the author herself seems to own the copyright.
posted by Blasdelb at 10:52 AM on January 9, 2013