Where's my soap box?
Friends, I just need to get this out. For my sociological theory class, all of us have to be a discussion leader and I chose to do mine on bell hooks. If you don't know who bell hooks is, she's a wonderful and poignant feminist author who writes about the struggles of Black and lesbian women within the Feminist Movement. hooks herself is a Black lesbian and she has a lot to say on the subject of inequality in the Feminist Movement. I just need to share my feelings on this while I read hooks' piece.
It just....really upsets me to see that the world, still to this day, is so full of inequality. Upper and middle class White women oppress lower class and minority women as much as all men oppress all women. hooks even argues that lower class and minority men oppress their women, not because it's just what men do, but because since they themselves are oppressed by upper/middle class White men, they have to regain some of their manhood by subjugating women. It's just disheartening to see that our differences, which are what make us beautiful and unique, are things that should serve to bring us together through celebration but are actually what the patriarchy uses to keep us apart. It's so sad to know that one group of people will almost always serve their own needs by oppressing another group. Men oppress women, rich women oppress poor women, rich men oppress poor men, the majority oppresses the minority, straight men and women oppress gays and lesbians, the educated oppress the uneducated. And what's more sad, to use Berger and Luckmann's theory, these actions are so habitualized in our minds that they are now internalized -- that is to say, we know no other way. And these ideas will continue to be internalized in our children and their children so long as we keep teaching it. It's just sad to come to the realization that feminism, an ideology who's main purpose is to deliver people from oppression utilizes oppression to achieve it's means.
Thoughts? Criticisms? I'd really like to discuss this with people.
It just....really upsets me to see that the world, still to this day, is so full of inequality. Upper and middle class White women oppress lower class and minority women as much as all men oppress all women. hooks even argues that lower class and minority men oppress their women, not because it's just what men do, but because since they themselves are oppressed by upper/middle class White men, they have to regain some of their manhood by subjugating women. It's just disheartening to see that our differences, which are what make us beautiful and unique, are things that should serve to bring us together through celebration but are actually what the patriarchy uses to keep us apart. It's so sad to know that one group of people will almost always serve their own needs by oppressing another group. Men oppress women, rich women oppress poor women, rich men oppress poor men, the majority oppresses the minority, straight men and women oppress gays and lesbians, the educated oppress the uneducated. And what's more sad, to use Berger and Luckmann's theory, these actions are so habitualized in our minds that they are now internalized -- that is to say, we know no other way. And these ideas will continue to be internalized in our children and their children so long as we keep teaching it. It's just sad to come to the realization that feminism, an ideology who's main purpose is to deliver people from oppression utilizes oppression to achieve it's means.
Thoughts? Criticisms? I'd really like to discuss this with people.