Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism

I can’t say that I always agree with hooks, but I respect her well researched approach to delivering this information. I think she understood how important it was to make this information accessible and written in plain English. There were a few times in this book where hooks asserted ideas with no proof with the assumption that these were universal feelings or beliefs. One example that stuck out to me was when she said that arguments over desirable women were main sources of disagreements and fights between male slaves. I would’ve liked some proof that that was the case. This is an idea I’ve never heard of before. Although it’s not impossible, it doesn’t seem realistic. Her ideas about the evolution of feminism and the assumption that all Black people are male and all women are white are ideas that I’ve seen before, but it was far more well documented here by siding articles throughout history to support her idea. hook’s final chapter of this book suggest that black women work to bridge the gap between feminism current use, and the needs of women overall. I think this is a Herculean effort for a race of women that experiences both racism and sexism to undertake. The offer seems not to understand, the power dynamic between the two groups of women. She seems to believe that by simply reframing feminist thought, and, as minorities, deciding that it shouldn’t be racism that it just won’t be. I think this is an oversimplification of what’s necessary.

Excellent book with the central thesis that "... to be 'feminist' in any authentic sense of the term is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns, domination, and oppression."

In order to unite and understand each other well enough to do that, American women must embrace "... that American women, without exception, are socialized to be racist, classist and sexist, in varying degrees, and that labeling ourselves feminists does not change the fact that we must consciously work to rid ourselves of the legacy of negative socialization." People who want to oppress large swaths of society (think big profitable corporations and the politicians on their payrolls, white-nationalist men, and oppressive religions) seek to stop us from doing this work.

Hard but necessary read