If I were really asked to define myself, I wouldnโt start with race; I wouldnโt start with blackness; I wouldnโt start with gender; I wouldnโt start with feminism. I would start with stripping down to what fundamentally informs my life, which is that Iโm a seeker on the path. I think of feminism, and I think of anti-racist struggles as part of it. But where I stand spiritually is, steadfastly, on a path about love.
Bell HooksGiven the way universities work to reinforce and perpetuate the status quo, the way knowledge is offered as commodity, Women's Studies can easily become the place where revolutionary feminist thought and feminist activism are submerged or made secondary to the goals of academic careerism
Bell HooksWe don't hear much from revolutionary feminists who are white because they're not serving the bourgeois agenda of the status quo.
Bell HooksIf I do not speak in a language that can be understood there is little chance for a dialogue.
Bell HooksI can be critical of Beyoncรฉ and yet also appreciate aspects of her power and representation. I can especially critique the way white supremacist aesthetics more often than not informs her presentation of self and yet still acknowledge her beauty.
Bell HooksThe first act of violence that patriarchy demands of males is not violence toward women. Instead patriarchy demands of all males that they engage in acts of psychic self-mutilation, that they kill off the emotional parts of themselves. If an individual is not successful in emotionally crippling himself, he can count on patriarchal men to enact rituals of power that will assault his self-esteem.
Bell Hooks