Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center

Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1984

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Preface 1-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-5

Chapters 6-8

Chapters 9-12

Key Figures

Themes

Index of Terms

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Chapters 6-8Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 6 Summary: “changing perspectives on power”

hooks cites that current ideologies surrounding power emphasize “domination and control over people or things” (84). In her 1970 book Woman Power, Black feminist theorist Cellestine emphasizes that power can be exerted to end domination, and radical feminist groups adopted this definition. However, hooks notes that this attempt to redefine power has been largely unsuccessful because of conflicting opinions on the importance of class and politics within the wider feminist movement. Some feminists, notably white, bourgeois women, believe that women will gain power after attaining money and class privilege, which hooks says validates existing power systems and sexist oppression. Other women believe in innate sexual differences—that men and women are fundamentally different in behavior and values and women would therefore not use their power to oppress others—but hooks stresses that this idea is false. She asserts that the feminist movement has not considered how power would be wielded any differently and that by operating within an oppressor/oppressed paradigm, they would likely exert power exactly as men have. Indeed, many women with class or race privilege already exert power over marginalized people.

With this, hooks asserts that women “would organize [society] differently only if they had a different value system” (87). Feminists and activists must “reconceptualize power.” hooks quotes Karen Kollias’s essay "Class Realities: Create a New Power Base," in which Kollias describes the kind of self-confident power often found in lower-class women because they have no one to depend upon—they must exercise agency and autonomy in their own lives. To hooks, this kind of power provides a “fascination” for the feminist movement and should be emulated.

As an example of how women claiming power is not necessarily revolutionary, hooks cites Sandra Day O’Connor’s appointment to the Supreme Court. To hooks, joining an institution that perpetuates oppression and domination is not a step forward for collective gender equality; rather it reinforces individualism and upholds systemic sexist oppression. In this way, sexist, racist, and classist power dynamics replicate themselves within the feminist movement itself.

To examine different ways that power can be reconceptualized by women, hooks first discusses the “image of woman as life-affirming nurturer” (91) that situates women in dependent, submissive roles in society. While these roles are ostensibly powerless, hooks does not believe that sexist oppression will be stopped by first gaining power, as this implies that power can be gained within existing systems of domination. She believes that women already have power. By resisting normative definitions of femininity and gender roles, women can undermine their domination. Furthermore, there is great power is collectivity and solidarity; women working to obtain a visage of power for themselves through individualism are not contributing to the feminist movement. hooks supports boycotting material goods, forming anti-imperialist and anti-patriarchal discourses, and protesting as ways women can exercise power.

Chapter 7 Summary: “rethinking the nature of work”

Because much feminist thought centers white, bourgeoise women’s desire to affirm a sense of autonomy by leaving the home and finding a job, feminist ideology around work tends to present work as “the key to liberation. Work, they argued, would allow women to break the bonds of economic dependency on men” (96). hooks argues that presenting work as liberatory reflects class bias and ignorance as women in middle- and low-income households already work one if not multiple jobs to support their families. As such, this thinking alienated many middle- and low-income women living in the United States and they did not participate in the feminist movement.

Although women joined the workforce in greater numbers thanks to feminism, hooks contests that employers’ discriminatory thinking did not change. As such, she claims that the influx of white, privileged, upper-class women on the job market, emboldened employers to discriminate against Black individuals. As a result, many Black individuals were unable to find jobs. Further, hooks identifies “work as liberation” theory as limiting, as it implies that women who work are already liberated. While working can provide economic freedom for individual women, it does not eliminate sexist oppression.

hooks asserts that a new economic program must be instituted. It should be based on women supporting each other in the workplace, equal employment opportunities, and combating consumerism. In including such economic reforms among the feminist’s movements core objectives, hooks argues that middle- and low-income women would be much more likely to support the cause. Moreover, she calls for addressing the psychological exploitation of women by deconstructing the notion that some work—such as service work, housework, and so-called “women’s work”—is less valuable than profit-generating work.

Chapter 8 Summary: “educating women: a feminist agenda”

Accessible, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and post-colonialist education should, in hooks’s opinion, be a central objective for the feminist movement. As many women lack basic literacy, education becomes political when it intersects with sexist oppression. hooks quotes feminist theorist and activist Charlotte Bunch, who explains that access to literacy helps women participate in feminist activism. As much feminist theory is disseminated in writing, lacking basic literacy alienates many women from the movement. Funding literacy programs is an issue, as hooks doubts that feminist organizations could gain governmental financial backing. Instead, she proposes small, community-based literacy programs to further reinforce solidarity, personal connection, and investment in the cause. For working women or women who can’t leave small children at home to attend feminist conferences or reading groups, hooks proposes door-to-door “contact” as a way to spread feminist teachings.

hooks herself attended a university-level women’s studies program. She believes that this sort of education should be made available to communities through YMCAs, churches, and other community centers. Drawing on her own experiences giving public talks on feminism, hooks describes how to make high-level ideas accessible to all. One must adjust vocabulary, cultural nuances, and societal references to best convey new ideas and educate. hooks criticizes the state of feminism in academia as a struggle between theory, praxis, and activism, with each sect having its own class and race biases.

Chapters 6-8 Analysis

hooks reinforces the book’s theme of The Importance of Solidarity in the Feminist Movement through her discussion of how value systems reflect power structures and their biases. To achieve true feminist reform, patriarchy, white supremacy, and classism must be completely eradicated from society. hooks argues that this is something the feminist movement fails to address because it is largely run by wealthy, white women who tend to view liberation as individual achievements. hooks gives a concrete example in President Reagan’s appointment of Sandra Day O’Connor to the Supreme Court: Reagan co-opted the feminist desire for more female representation in positions of power by placing a woman who would uphold patriarchy and white supremacy in a lifelong judicial position. In doing so, existing value systems stay place while assuming a visage of progress, and feminists are lulled into thinking progress has been made. hooks advocates looking beyond an inclusive veneer to examine the material impact: A woman in power is only feminist if she uses her power to act in solidarity and work towards broader liberation.

hooks often returns to solidarity as the best tool for moving the feminist movement into a more class and race-sensitive direction. She stresses the importance of collective action: working for oneself within oppressive value systems and power dynamics will never benefit the whole or change society. Individualism—revealed in earlier discussions to be a vestige of Western imperialism—creates the same illusion of progress as Reagan’s appointment of Sandra Day O’Connor.

hooks attacks both the prevailing lack of solidarity and false progress through her discussion of women in the workplace. Professionalization is a major component of mainstream feminism, and not without reason. Money is one of the many ways women can be trapped in abusive marriages, and a woman who earns her own money can leave an abusive partner more easily. Financial independence is an important aspect of self-actualization; however, hooks argues against viewing it as the only way to achieve liberation or as being liberatory in and of itself. Claiming that working is the best way to validate one’s feminism, invalidates working-class women who have always needed to work as feminists; they should, according to this ideology, already be liberated.

Likewise, overemphasizing wage labor perpetuates capitalist devaluation of domestic labor, or “women’s work.” Women do much of the invisible, unpaid labor that maintains our society and capitalism, and Marxist feminists like hooks argue that this labor should be recognized and compensated rather than looked down upon. hooks exposes white, upper-class women’s ignorance and class biases as well as the economic and psychological exploitation of work in general. Concepts of “valuable” work for both genders are, for hooks, psychological manipulations rooted in patriarchal and imperialistic thinking. In refuting these various value systems and concepts of work, hooks situates her argument against the fundamental structure of society.

On the subject of work, hooks reiterates The Need for Educational Reform. She asserts that to achieve change, feminists must better educate the public on feminist thinking, the harm of white supremacy and capitalism, and the feminist movement’s failure to address race and class concerns. By providing personal examples—again, making the personal political—hooks both represents marginalized communities and offers concrete strategies for providing accessible education. By providing action plans, hooks elevates the text beyond theory into a game plan for political organizing.