feminism handout * femd2011 * 15 sept 2011

bell hooks denition of feminism: Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression (1). Introduction: Come Closer to Feminism When they ask those same folks about the feminist books or magazines they read, when I ask them about the feminist talks they have heard, about the feminist activists they know, they respond by letting me know that everything they know about feminism has come into their lives thirdhand (vii). Where does your knowledge about/perceptions of feminism come from? Where do you think many (or most?) people get their information about feminism? Chapter 1: Feminist Politics Where We Stand it is a denition which implies that all sexist thinking and action is the problem, whether those who perpetuate it are female or male, child or adult. It is also broad enough to include an understanding of systematic institutionalized sexism (1). As contemporary feminism progressed, as women realized that males were not the only group in our society who supported sexist thinking and behaviorthat females could be sexist as wellanti-male sentiment no longer shaped the movements consciousness. The focus shifted to an all-out effort to create gender justice (3). If feminism is a movement to end sexist oppression, then one cannot be anti-choice and feminist (6). Is this true? Can one be anti-choice and be feminist? Should this be the dividing line between feminist and antifeminist? Should there be a dividing line? Chapter 2: Consciousness-Raising A Constant Change of Heart Feminists are made, not born (7). Before women could change patriarchy we had to change ourselves; we had to raise our consciousness (7) and women examining sexist thinking and creating strategies where we would change our attitudes and beliefs via a conversion to feminist thinking and a commitment to feminist politics (8). The dismantling of consciousness-raising groups all but erased the notion that one had to learn about feminism and make an informed choice about embracing feminist politics to become a feminist advocate (10). Chapter 3: Sisterhood is Still Powerful We all knew rsthand that we had been socialized as females by patriarchal thinking to see ourselves as inferior to men, to see ourselves as always and only in competition with one another for patriarchal approval, to look upon each other with jealousy, fear, and hatred (14). Feminist movement created the context for female bonding. We did not bond against men, we bonded to protect our interests as women (15). We understood that political solidarity between females expressed in sisterhood goes beyond positive recognition of the experiences of women and even shared sympathy for common suffering. Feminist sisterhood is rooted in shared commitment to struggle against patriarchal injustice, no matter the form the injustice takes (15).

feminism handout * femd2011 * 15 sept 2011

Chapter 4: Feminist Education of Critical Consciousness an analysis of sexism, strategies for challenging patriarchy, and new models of social interaction (19). most of us had been socialized by parents and society to accept sexist thinking. We had not taken time to gure out the roots of our perceptions. Feminist thinking and feminist theory urged us to do that (19). How are we socialized to accept sexist thinking? What are some examples of sexist thinking? Where/how is that thinking represented and reinforced? (How) do you see it reinforced at the U of Minnesota (on campus, in classrooms, etc)? Producing a body of feminist literature coupled with the demand for the recovery of womens history was one of the most powerful and successful interventions of contemporary feminism (20). I had come to feminist thinking by challenging male domination in our patriarchal household. But simply being the victim of an exploitative or oppressive system and even resisting it does not mean we understand why its in place or how to change it (21). By failing to create a mass-based educational movement to teach everyone about feminism we allow mainstream patriarchal mass media to remain the primary place where folks learn about feminism, and most of what they learn is negative (23). We need work that is especially geared towards youth culture. No one produces this work in academic settings (23). Is this true? Imagine a mass-based feminist movement where folks go door to door passing out literature, taking the time (as do religious groups) to explain to people what feminism is about (23). What other strategies can you imagine for community-based education? What kind of feminist education do you think blogs can provide? Childrens literature is one of the most crucial sites for feminist education for critical consciousness (23). What sort of education (moral, political, social) do kids get from childrens books? What would/does a feminist childrens book look like? Chapter 19: Visionary Feminism At the very start of the womens liberation movement visionary thinkers were present dreaming about a radical/revolutionary political movement that would in its reformist stage grant women civil rights within the existing white supremacist capitalist patriarchal system while simultaneously working to undermine and overthrow that system (110). Seduced by class power and/or greater class mobility once they made strides in the existing social order fewer women were interested in working to dismantle that system (111). A fundamental goal of visionary feminism was to create strategies to change the lot of all women and enhance their personal power. To do that, though, the movement needed to move way beyond equal rights agendas and start with basic issues like literacy campaigns that would embrace all women, but especially women of poorer groups (111).

feminism handout * femd2011 * 15 sept 2011

Most people in our society do not have a basic understanding of feminism; they cannot acquire that understanding from a wealth of diverse material, grade school-level primers, and so on, because this material does not exist. We must create it if we are to rebuild feminist movement that is truly for everyone (112). Feminist movement is advanced whenever any male or female of any age works on behalf of ending sexism. That work does not necessarily require us to join organizations; we can work on behalf of feminism right where we are (116). There is no one path to feminism (116).