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Kevin Aguilar
English 1A
Professor Gomez
07 July 2010
A movement needs a central idea, a voice, a supporting group, and a call for
action in order for that movement to succeed. Feminism has always been vague and open
to interpretation for those who want to advocate it; therefore, it has many faces, voices,
and groups. Bell hooks and Virginia Woolf are two of those voices that spoke on
feminism with different perspectives. Bell hooks’ definition of feminism gives it the a
sense of unity to fulfill the needs of a successful campaign by expressing that feminism is
a movement to end sexist oppression. Virginia Woolf’s feminism deals more with
equality between men and women. Based on hooks definition of feminism, Woolf is not
advocating feminism because Woolf’s focus and energy is on gender equality only and
not expressing a drop of energy against sexist, race, class, and cultural oppression.
Bell hooks has a clear definition of what feminism is. In the essay Feminism: A
Movement to End Sexist Oppression hooks establishes that “Feminism as a movement to
end sexist oppression directs our attention to systems of domination and the interrelatedness of sex, race, and class oppression“ (p.75). This definition gives the reader and
anyone who wants to advocate for feminism a clear perspective on the task at hand. It is
not vague, therefore; you cannot mistake its message. It is not ethnocentric because the
message is to end all types of oppression and not just the oppression against gender. By
making feminism a political movement, the issue is forced to be addressed and it also
gave it a sense of central idea. Changing the attitudes towards oppression of any kind,
one must internalize the idea that oppression is oppression and how ever someone may
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paint it as, it can be changed to serve humanity by giving it a clear understanding.
Bell hooks definition of feminism is necessary for feminism to grow and be a
centralized state of mind for those who advocate feminism. It unifies all branches of
feminism into one movement which gives it an identity. That sense of political belonging
takes away from the stigma of feminism being only for lesbians, male-haters, and angry
women. It invites every one to join because it is a movement and not a way of being.
Males and children can join the movement to stop sexist oppression. Advocating
feminism for all types of women ensures that minorities and women of a different class
get their rights met as well. For example, in a hypothetical scenario, if one who advocates
for feminism focuses on a men vs. women debate that one person will ignore the equally
important issues because the debate is about gender. Let us say that the debate would be
won and there would be equal rights granted for men and women but minority women
and men, for that matter, will not get to see the full benefits of such rights due to their
race because that piece of oppression was never issued in such debate. hooks definition of
feminism is necessary to unify and identify the correlation of all human oppression.
Without that definition, feminism becomes a past time for a few women and not that
universal idea of stopping sexist oppression.
I
In her essay, bell hooks criticizes bourgeois and liberal feminism for their
personal agenda that will not help women as a whole. Bourgeois/liberal feminist focus
their energy to be in equal playing fields with intent to gain influence, an education, or
materialistic well being. That ideal is not a bad idea but it is just one piece of the puzzle
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and that narrow minded way of thinking is what hooks criticism roots from. To gain
influence and not worry of rights of your lower class counterpart is inhuman. That idea is
egotistical and it serves as another form of oppression, which is class oppression. hooks
points out that lower class or minority women are reluctant to join the movement of
feminism because bourgeois feminist have made it almost exclusive and that liberal
women want to be so individualistic that they stand alone on feminist issues. That posses
a threat to all women because it divides them. Divided groups means arguing over who is
right and it will never move the movement forward to what its real intent should be.
Virginia Wool is a feminist writer that wrote about the importance of women
having equality with men so they can create and write works of literature like men. In her
writings she explains “a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to
write fiction”. Due to circumstance women were not able to express who they were
because they did not have, that, which was abundant in the male dominated society like
money, education, and a room of her own, which is a metaphor for a space to think and
create without being oppressed by societies ideals of gender roles. She showed that
women were as capable of writing fictional works like men. in her essay A Room of
One’s own Woolf make a comparison to a fictional character, Judith Shakespeare,
William Shakespeare’s twin sister and William Shakespeare himself. She explains on
how the world would embrace the genius of William because he was a man. In contrast,
Judith, as talented and intelligent as William would have had been, doors would shut in
front of her face because she was a woman and in that age, woman could have hardly
acted in theater yet alone thought and create masterpieces. The idea of equality is clear
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through out Woolf’s work, but there is one piece missing and that is the oppression of
everything except for gender oppression.
Based on bell hooks definition of feminism, Virginia Woolf is not advocating
feminism but being a form of feminism which is bourgeois feminism. Putting aside
Woolf’s race, personal wealth and education, her writing tend to emphasize the rich
quality of living of men and the poor quality of living for woman, which puts into focus
the goal seeking woman and not the oppression of all women. Woolf speaks of a all male
school that has great buildings with architectural flare; the food that the men eat which
seems like a royal banquet, and the lawn that is marvelous. When she write of the female
school, the buildings are horrible, the food is gruel, and the lawn is unkempt. No where
does she write of the oppression sexist minds have against all women. Her words give the
impression that she deserves to be in-between those luxuries, without taking to account
lower class men and women live through those types of poor conditions too. Virginia
Woolf also speaks of Coleridge’s theory of the androgynous mind, which will assist you
with having both sides of the story to have a better understanding. In her writings she
explains if you are a writer, you get to be open to a male/female experience by writing
with both genders in mind. What she fails to acknowledge is the experiences of both
minorities and classes within that theory by just focusing on sex/ gender related topics.
Based on hooks definition of feminism, Virginia Woolf fails to acknowledge that there is
a problem with any type oppression and just focuses on the equality of men and women.
Hooks would say that Woolf is just adding a stigma to feminism by trying her hardest to
be in a room with men and that Woolf is just a person trying to better her circumstance
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and not that off all human beings.
Bell hooks definition is clear and it has the message to find action in a word that
has been stigmatized and stalled by its own members. Feminism as a movement can
become the staple against oppression. One thing is clear and that is that hooks approach
to feminism can become a universal centralized thought. A successful movement needs a
voice, a face, supporting group, and a call for action, bell hooks definition bring all that to
the forefront by just stating I advocate for feminism.