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katemarcia's review against another edition
5.0
Absolutely loved this book, it really changed my views on feminism and opened my eyes to it's surprising amount of faults. Really insightful, I recommend it as a great starting place for budding feminists.
zojbean's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
galacticvampire's review against another edition
4.25
"As long as these two groups, or any group, defines liberation as gaining social equality with ruling-class white men, they have a vested interest in the continued exploitation and oppression of others."
It's impossible to evaluate a book without considering its context. Written in the early 80s, Feminist Theory was dealing with a completely different framework of both society and the feminist movem, but that only makes more glaring how many of the issues explored are still extremely relevant.
40 years later, the debate about what we now could call the #GirlBoss-ification of feminism has never been more pressing.
Focusing on different spheres of social life for each chapter, hooks main point is that feminism goals shouldn't be dictated by a small, high educated, rich and white minority, and that no true feminist ideal can be achieved without class and racial equality.
There are, of course, oudated ideas, like when it comes to sexuality and community, but the core values in these sections are still useful, and resignifying them is essential for progress. Criticising biological essentialism, women oppression by the hands of women, varied gender stereotypes according to race and class, individualism, golden star lesbians, and man-hating. All of these topics are relevant today, even if in different context or application.
All in all, hook's writing is dense, but not complicated, and while this is undeniable a technical text most people could follow the ideas presented.
"The focus on "men" and "male behavior" has overshadowed emphasis on women developing themselves politically so that we can begin making the cultural transformations that would pave the way for the establishment of a new social order."
nefeli's review against another edition
Much, much better than I expected from a book that came out in the 80s, but still not great. I recognise how important bell hooks is as an author, educator and critic, but I think I'll stick to more contemporary stuff.