"(Let's face it: opportunism has prevented many academic feminists from taking action that would force them to go against the status quo and to take a stand.)" p. 108

Summary

Holding My Sister's Hand, p. 93-110

hooks focuses on the historical roots of the enmity between black and white women, and it's impact on feminist solidarity. Despite both groups bearing the weight of patriarchal subjugation, white women relied on racism in order to reinforce their marginally higher position relative to black women. Although slavery ended, the served-servant relationship did not, keeping black and white women apart.

Initially, white feminist scholars refused to explore intersection of race and feminism, but it has slowly grown accepted by the academy. On one hand, the acknowledgment represents growth and improvement in the scholarly community. On the other, scholars are still re-inscribing old languages of dominance, and hooks attributes this to the shared, historical mistrust and unwillingness to confront racism in the field. She believes that feminist scholars must actively work together to interrogate this shared history to transform and overcome the deeper emotions.

Feminist Thinking in the Classroom p. 111-118

This chapter mainly recounts hooks experience trying to encourage black students to get involved with feminist thinking. Many see it as a white discipline and question the utility as it applies to their life. In working through these issues with a small, all-female student reading group, hooks observes many obstacles that black woman perceive in taking up a feminist world view, but that the group ultimate believes that it is a necessary of component to foment gender and racial liberation.

Feminist Scholarship p. 119-127

Like Feminist Thinking in the Classroom, this chapter analyzes why black academics aren't as well represented in feminist thinking spaces. While some disciplines like literary criticism has flourished with black voices, these scholars do not necessarily take an explicitly feminist point of view in their work.

Many scholars find the pressures and hazards of working in the white-dominated feminist circles risky. Partially because they must open themselves up to the usual slew of microaggressions, but also out of concerns about feminism's relationship to the black community and a direct fear that white people will "Columbus" their work. With so few rewards, hooks is sympathetic to scholars who are hesitant to identify themselves as feminist, but emphasizes that removal is not the answer.

Discussion Questions

  1. What are some universal lessons that we can draw from these three chapters? What do we gain from universalizing these lessons? What do we lose?
  2. In the Holding My Sister's hand section (pg 96), hooks talks about the jealousy that hinders many black and white females due to sexual relations with men of opposite race. How do you think this places our in our daily life? This is one of the main aspects along with power dynamics that may possible hinder tight bonds between white and black women in the early feminist movement?
  3. Does the servant-served mindset still impact our relationships?
  4. hooks states that some of the most productive partnerships between black and white women are ones where white women do not rely on their black female colleagues to force them to confront their racism. What strategies do you have to force yourself to confront your racism?
  5. At the beginning of Feminist Thinking in the Classroom, hooks remarks that many students are no longer necessarily committed or interested in feminist politics. Given her remarks on the backlash against feminism, how do you think students approach feminist politics in the classroom now?
  6. In closing her chapter Feminist Scholarship Black Scholars, hooks says "those black women scholars who began working on gender issues while still ambivalent about feminist politics and who have now grown in both their awareness and commitment must be willing to discuss publicly the shifts in their thinking." (p. 127) Must you declare how your thinking has changed?
  7. hooks writes "everyone in the group expressed the fear that a commitment to feminist politics could lead them to be isolated" p 117. In what other contexts might new knowledge, skills, or values create or exacerbate alienation and isolation?

Feminist Memories Journal