Customer Reviews

Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is the best "primer" to feminism that I've ever read. It's a great read for people who know nothing about feminism or who are only familiar with mainstream society's myths about feminism, because it offers a concise and easy to understand history of the movement. hooks also clears up misunderstanding on the definitions of the terms feminist and feminism. She touches on problems within the movement and where we're at now. I also think this is an excellent book for seasoned feminists to have on hand. For one thing, you can find the quotes and passages you're looking for with ease...and it also helps to have read a book that you should be suggesting to those new to feminism.

Finally, I disagree with the reviewer who said this book is only for the "fringe" because hooks points out "our feminist pioneers [were] privileged, educated white women." Um...THEY WERE for the most part. If you're looking for a whitewashed version of the history of feminism then this book isn't for you. Like the feminist movement itself, this book cannot address sex and gender without also addressing race and class. Also, nowhere in the book does hooks imply that housewives are excluded from feminism. The book actually touches on the fact that most of the work done by women (including especially unpaid domestic labor) is still unpaid and undervalued in this society.

The amazing thing about this book is that hooks is able to compress so much information into such an easy and interesting read. You won't put it down except maybe to get your hi-liter.

Bell hooks's book is an excellent introduction to the study of feminist politics. With clear and concise language, she revisits the beginnings of the movement, and tells us where it is now. She also succintly explains why feminism is not anti-male, anti-sex, or anti-family, but rather feminism is the struggle against rigid sexism in patriarchal cultures. Despite its plague of editorial errors, the book is highly recommended for the non-academic language and for the encouraging message hooks offers us.

Ms. hooks stated goal of writing an accessible feminist primer for those outside the movement has partially been achieved. The book covers a great deal of territory for such a small volume; and it does so with (largely) accessible language (although I am not sure that continued use of such words as "dialectic" or phrases like "white capitalist male patriarchal heterosexist hegemony" are really all that accessible to outsiders to the movement). Many chapters are quite excellent and contain a thoughtful and succinct analysis of where feminism has been, is now, and needs to go.

There are some flaws within the work, however:

1. The focus on radical feminism as the "true feminism" and the "one path to salvation" may be tiresome for those feminists who are not in agreement with those beliefs or goals. 2. The continual dismissal of "reformist feminists" as "allies of patriarchy" could be considered insulting. 3. As a Canadian, the American paternalism wore a little thin, especially since, 4. She makes the common mistake of saying that feminism must end in creating an absolutely egalitarian society along sex, gender, class and race lines--and that anything that aims only to repair inequities between men and women is not "real" feminism (and then falls into the trap of American paternalism, which could be considered rather hypocritical). For instance, in the chapter on "global feminism," feminism all around the world is reduced to two forms: American and Third-World. I can only suppose that she believes that other Western countries can't really be distinguished from America.

Feminism is for Everybody is a great book for third wave generation feminists. Most young feminists of today don't know the history of feminism that bell hooks recounts in this book. bell hooks explains how the current feminist movement lacks a strong sense of sisterhood, and one reason for that is our lack of participation in consciousness raising groups. We need safe, sacred space in which to work out our internalized sexism. We need to learn about feminism outside of the classroom as well as inside it. We need to come together across the lines of race, class, and education, and demand a revolution.

hooks also dicusses some of the differences between "reform" feminism and "revolutionary" feminism, and why knowing about the distinction is so important. That helped me to understand one reason why today's feminism seems to exclude women of color and poor women so much.

I highly recommend hooks' book for women (and men) who are new to feminism and to those who've been involved in the movement for a while. I think she has some excellent and important things to teach us about our movement and where it needs to go.

I have always admired and respected the formidable intelligence of bell hooks. I have read her books since Ain't I A Woman when I was still a sophomore in college. While I don't agree with everything she says I feel her vision is quite insightful, but Feminism for Everybody is just recycled rhetoric, which has been a pattern of her books as of late. I feel this book is like every other book she has done, saying the same old things without any new insight or enlightenment. The one thing I notice is that for all her suggestions she never has a concise game plan on how to solve things based on her theory, although when she does criticism she is the first to write of other authors who don't share any type of solutions based on their rhetoric.

This book is good for people who are ignorant and have a fear about feminism. It is a good introductory book, but if you're a seasoned reader, or activist I suggest you move on to something more substantial.

Bell Hooks is an articulate and inspired writer. This book is a great primer to give to friends and family to inform them about the feminist movement...since many people hear only what the mainstream media has to say...this book takes into account the perspectives of black and white women/men.

A free-thinker leverages the brilliance of others to enable him/her in developing and testing his/her own ideas...this is one author which will certainly help you in testing and developing your own ideas on feminism and patriarchy.

It is concise, easy reading. It also clearly reflects many of the same historical points which I recently saw on the PBS special "Not For Ourselves Alone"...a program about the early suffrage movement pioneers, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

I got "Feminism is for Everybody" thinking that would be a good introduction to bell hooks' writing, but I was disappointed.

I liked the way she thought, but not the way she wrote. Her refusal to use commas made it hard to read.

It was also frustrating that the book clearly wasn't what it purported to be: an introduction to feminism that you could just hand to anybody who's curious about feminism but doesn't know anything about it. It seemed to me to be a disjointed collection of outdated essays written for existing feminists about reform needed within the world of feminism.

There was almost nothing there that seemed relevant to someone curious about feminism in the 2000's. These articles were probably awesome in the 60's, if you were a feminist wanting to reform you movement.

I think bell hooks attempts, in all of her books to make sure that anyone, regardless of class or location can read her book and understand it. Too often, the books that are more "complex" tend to be geared at the small number of people who can spend their time reading every little thing about an issue--i.e. those who are college educated. However, those people who work all day, have families to care for, and needs that most college students don't have to worry about, can pick up this book and feel involved in the quest for gender equality. It is empowering and informational and I highly recommend it.

This is a required text book for a class I'm taking. I've found that it's easy to read and well written. This feels more like a book I would read for enjoyment than a "required" reading.

For anyone new to radical feminism and/or the work of cultural critic and black feminist activist bell hooks, "Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics" is a wonderful introduction. Like all of her books, it is clear, concise and rich with wisdom. Like Audre Lorde, Cherrie Moraga, Barbara Smith and Gloria Anzaldua, bell hooks has helped to revolutionize feminist theory by insisting on its alliance with movements for economic and racial equality. Begin with this book, then read her others. They will change your life and transform our world.