Reference no: EM132866610

Question 1: What forms of power does bell hooks encourage women to pursue?

• Women, even the most oppressed among us, do exercise power. These powers can be used to advance feminist struggle. One of the most significant forms of power held by the weak is "the refusal to accept the definition of oneself that is put forward by the powerful" (Hooks 92). Women need to know that they can reject the powerful's definition of their reality --- that they can do so even if they are poor, exploited, or trapped in oppressive circumstances. They need to know that the exercise of this basic personal power is an act of resistance and strength. Many poor and exploited women, especially black women, would have been unable to develop positive self-concepts of themselves if they had not exercised their power to reject the powerful's definition of their reality. Failure to exercise the power of disbelief made it difficult for women to reject prevailing notions of power and envision new perspectives. "The forms of power that these women should exercise are those that will enable them to resist exploitation and oppression so that political and economic structures will exist that benefit men and women equally" (Hooks 94). One form of power that women exercise in the economic sphere is that of consumption.
• Boycotts have been used often as a strategy, and have been very successful in getting the company to listen to you. If men and women all around the United States turned off their television sets for an extended period of time and purchased no products other than basic necessities to protest exploitation of women, these actions would have significant political and economic consequences. However, since women are not thoroughly organized and because most women do not understand the forms of power they could exercise, this wouldn't be possible. "They need to be politically educated in order to exercise the limited powers that they possess" (Hooks 94). As consumers, women have power, and if organized could use that power to improve women's social status. Feminist movements will have a greater appeal for masses of women if it addresses the powers women exercise even as it calls attention to sexist discrimination, exploitation, and oppression. Feminist ideology should not encourage women to believe they are powerless. It should clarify for women the powers they exercise daily and show them ways these powers can be used to resist sexist domination and exploitation.