I thought you all might be interested in some notes that I typed up for the bell hooks' chapters from feminism is for everybody. You can download them here. We will continue to discuss hooks' ideas tomorrow, especially ch 4, when we talk about feminist mass based education and social media. Here are some key passages from that chapter:
Chapter 4: Feminist Education of Critical Consciousness
"an analysis of sexism, strategies for challenging patriarchy, and new models of social interaction" (19).
"most of us had been socialized by parents and society to accept sexist thinking.We had not taken time to figure out the roots of our perceptions. Feminist thinking and feminist theory urged us to do that" (19).
How are we socialized to accept sexist thinking? What are some examples of sexist thinking? Where/how is that thinking represented and reinforced? (How) do you see it reinforced at the U of Minnesota (on campus, in classrooms, etc)?
"Producing a body of feminist literature coupled with the demand for the recovery of women's history was one of the most powerful and successful interventions of contemporary feminism" (20).
"I had come to feminist thinking by challenging male domination in our patriarchal household. But simply being the victim of an exploitative or oppressive system and even resisting it does not mean we understand why it's in place or how to change it" (21).
"By failing to create a mass-based educational movement to teach everyone about feminism we allow mainstream patriarchal mass media to remain the primary place where folks learn about feminism, and most of what they learn is negative" (23).
"We need work that is especially geared towards youth culture. No one produces this work in academic settings" (23). Is this true?
"Imagine a mass-based feminist movement where folks go door to door passing out literature, taking the time (as do religious groups) to explain to people what feminism is about" (23).
What other strategies can you imagine for community-based education? What kind of feminist education do you think blogs can provide?