Happy belated birthday, bell hooks.

[redqueen]

Last edited Thu Sep 26, 2013, 05:04 PM - Edit history (1)

“We keep coming back to the question of representation because identity is always about representation. People forget that when they wanted white women to get into the workforce because of the world war, what did they start doing?They started having a lot of commercials, a lot of movies, a lot of things that were redoing the female image, saying, “Hey, you can work for the war, but you can still be feminine.” So what we see is that the mass media, film, TV, all of these things, are powerful vehicles for maintaining the kinds of systems of domination we live under, imperialism, racism, sexism etc. Often there’s a denial of this and art is presented as politically neutral, as though it is not shaped by a reality of domination.”


“Yet even when large numbers of feminist activists adopted a perspective which included race, gender, class, and nationality, the white “power feminists” continued to project an image of feminism that linked and links women’s equality with imperialism.

Global women’s issues like forced female circumcision, sex clubs in Thailand, the veiling of women in Africa, India, the Middle East, and Europe, the killing of female children in China, remain important concerns. However feminist women in the West are still struggling to decolonize feminist thinking and practice so that these issues can be addressed in a manner that does not reinscribe Western imperialism.

Consider the way many Western women, white and black, have confronted the issue of female circumcision in Africa and the Middle East. Usually these countries are depicted as “barbaric and uncivilized,” the sexism there portrayed as more brutal and dangerous to women than the sexism here in the United States. A decolonized feminist perspective would first and foremost examine how sexist practices in relation to women’s bodies globally are linked. For example: linking circumcision with life-threatening eating disorders (which are the direct consequence of a culture imposing thinness as a beauty ideal) or any life-threatening cosmetic surgery would emphasize that the sexism, the misogyny, underlying these practices globally mirror the sexism here in this country.”


"To begin by always thinking of love as an action rather than a feeling is one way in which anyone using the word in this manner automatically assumes accountability and responsibility. We are often taught we have no control over our ‘feelings.’ Yet most of us accept that we choose our actions, that intention and will inform what we do. We also accept that our actions have consequences. To think of actions shaping feelings is one way we rid our selves of conventionally accepted assumptions such as that parents love their children, or that one simply "falls" in love without exercising will or choice, that there are such things as "crimes of passion," i.e., he killed her because he loved her so much. If we were constantly remembering that love is as love does, we would not use the word in a manner that devalues and degrades it’s meaning. When we are loving we openly and honestly express care, affection, responsibility, respect, commitment, and trust."


"Being an “enlightened witness” means becoming critically vigilant about the world we live in."

— bell hooks

[redqueen]

1. Had to add this one, too.

“All girls continue to be taught when they are young, if not by their parents then by the culture around them, that they must earn the right to be loved — that “femaleness” is not good enough. This is a female’s first lesson in the school of patriarchal thinking and values. She must earn love. She is not entitled. She must be good enough to be loved. And good is always defined by someone else, someone on the outside.”

[redqueen]

2. Another

"Men celebrated our sexual liberation — our willingness to freely give and enjoy blow jobs and group sex, our willingness to experiment with anal penetration — but ultimately many males revolted when we stated that our bodies were territories that they could not occupy at will. Men who were ready for female sexual liberation if it meant free pussy, no strings attached, were rarely ready for feminist female sexual agency. This agency gave us the right to say yes to sex, but it also empowered us to say no."

[MadrasT]

3. I posted that on Facebook a while back

And HOLY CRAP it started a shitstorm of criticism and pushback and defensiveness... from so-called "progressive" males who didn't want to hear it.

I thought it was very interesting to notice whose buttons it pushed among my "friends".

That might be my favorite bell hooks quote, ever. But there are so many good things she's said... so I probably actually have a list of favorites.

[ismnotwasm]

5. I just started Facebook about a month ago

I keep looking at people I know and thinking --naw-- so I haven't gathered a large number of 'friends' but I think it's about 80, which seems a lot to me.

Funny what I think when I scrutinize those On Facebook to see if I really want to hear their opinion. I've made a couple of mistakes, one guy is anti-choice, which I didn't know--cause that's a deal-breaker-- but he's very supportive of the what I post about missing, prostituted and abuse of women. Maybe because he's religious. He also has early onset dementia, so I ignore any bullshit.

Facebook is a trip.

[MadrasT]

6. I got accused of "posting negative stuff all the time"

What I was actually doing was "sharing" links from pages like Miss Representation and Feminism Unmodified.

Yep, speaking up about feminism and sexism is "negative stuff" to some so-called "progressives".

I mostly just go there because once you "like" the right pages, you end up getting cool links in your news feed to articles you might have missed otherwise. I use it mostly as an information aggregator (like I use DU).

[ismnotwasm]

7. Yeah I like doing that

Like with Vday. It's a good medium for that.

[redqueen]

8. Yes, speaking up about feminism is often seen as being negative.

Like it's our fault that society is still so riddled with misogyny.

And like ignoring it will make things change for the better.

Pff.

[niyad]

4. thank you for the reminder. had the privilege of meeting her years ago--truly an amazing woman.