we have brains

Power in Sisterhood?

September 28, 2003 10:14 PM posted by kerri : track it (1)

While coming up with a topic for this week, I thought about how we interact with each other—not simply when we respond to collaboration questions, but how “we”, people in general, relate in real life as well as on the internet. It is especially disheartening to me when I read or listen to feminists (womanists, egalitarianists, whatever one prefers to call him/herself) invalidating one another’s experiences. In bell hooks’ book, Feminism is for Everybody, she writes:

"As contemporary feminism progressed, as women realized that males were not the only group in our society who supported sexist thinking and behavior--that females could be sexist as well--anti-male sentiment no longer shaped the movement's consciousness [she notes that losing this sentiment is a positive thing, by the way]. The focus shifted to an all-out effort to create gender justice. But women could not band together to further feminism without confronting our sexist thinking. Sisterhood could not be powerful as long as women were competitively at war with one another. . .. Early on in contemporary feminist movement, consciousness-raising groups often became settings where women simply unleashed pent-up hostility and rage about being victimized, with little or no focus on strategies of intervention and transformation."
(p3 & 7)

What do you think of what hooks says on this matter? She goes on to write (and I encourage everyone to find a copy of this book. It's in most decent libraries and bookstores.) that the catharsis serves a purpose of its own; however, what she thinks we need more of to achieve any goals of feminism or sisterhood is to focus on "strategies of intervention and transformation." How can this focus be achieved?

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My Monday Morning Rant is up here.

Posted by: Vic... on September 29, 2003 09:36 AM |

Interesting question to wrap the mind around...

First thing, everyone must go read Vic's post. It's excellent. More excellent than usual, even.

So, my personal take on this is that I don't care much about people's individual experiences or the things they disagree about - it's what we agree on that matters. Feminists are a loose-knit group with no single agenda, and I'm alright with that. More in another direcation on my blog, la.

Posted by: april on September 29, 2003 04:47 PM |