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Bell Hooks On The State Of Feminism And How To Move Forward Under Trump
It’s hard not to feel like Trump’s election is a huge defeat, a sign that America is eschewing feminism for someone who openly rejects women’s bodily autonomy and the idea that women have value outside of their appearances.
It’s absolutely evident that so much of the anti-Hillary Clinton campaign was rooted in misogyny and woman hating, and that in many ways she became a symbolic representation of feminism. So many patriarchal men, especially white men, really felt like feminism had taken something from them. And I think for those groups of people, Hillary Clinton losing was a sense of victory, like they were getting some patriarchal power back. But patriarchy has no gender. There were many, many women who did not support Hillary Clinton or vote for her. We can’t see this as being about one, individual, male misogynist and hater, but the whole structure of our society. Masses of people really hate and fear empowered women.
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Even when there’s not misogyny, there’s so much benevolent sexism—in the response to the whole “grab her by the pussy” thing, men expressed their outrage over the incident by saying things like, “That could have been our wives and daughters he was talking about.” To me, that’s just as problematic as the sexual objectification they were denouncing.
And it reinforced a heteronormative vision of decency, not a powerful, passionate argument for justice and for where we stand as people who are advocates of feminist politics. Which is not about whether you’re a mom or not, it’s about the whole question of whether we can exist without being seen as second-class citizens. This heteronormative vision of parenthood is part of that.
It’s absolutely evident that so much of the anti-Hillary Clinton campaign was rooted in misogyny and woman hating, and that in many ways she became a symbolic representation of feminism. So many patriarchal men, especially white men, really felt like feminism had taken something from them. And I think for those groups of people, Hillary Clinton losing was a sense of victory, like they were getting some patriarchal power back. But patriarchy has no gender. There were many, many women who did not support Hillary Clinton or vote for her. We can’t see this as being about one, individual, male misogynist and hater, but the whole structure of our society. Masses of people really hate and fear empowered women.
...................................................................................................................................
Even when there’s not misogyny, there’s so much benevolent sexism—in the response to the whole “grab her by the pussy” thing, men expressed their outrage over the incident by saying things like, “That could have been our wives and daughters he was talking about.” To me, that’s just as problematic as the sexual objectification they were denouncing.
And it reinforced a heteronormative vision of decency, not a powerful, passionate argument for justice and for where we stand as people who are advocates of feminist politics. Which is not about whether you’re a mom or not, it’s about the whole question of whether we can exist without being seen as second-class citizens. This heteronormative vision of parenthood is part of that.
http://bust.com/feminism/19119-the-road-ahead-bell-hooks.html
