6.2

19

Visionary Feminism

To be truly visionary we have to root our imagination in our con­

crete reality while simultaneously imagining possibilities beyond that

reality. A primary strength of contemporary feminism has been the

way it has changed shape and direction. Movements for socia! jus­

tice that holdon to outmoded ways of thinking and acting tend to

fail. The roots of visionary feminism extend back to the early '60s.

At the very start of the women's liberation movement visionary

thinkers were present dreaming about a radical/ revolutionary politi­

ca! movement that would in its reformist stage grant women civil

rights within the existing white supremacist capitalist patriarcha! sys­

tem while simultaneously working to undermine and overthrow that

system. The dream was ofreplacing that culture ofdomination with

a world of participatory economics grounded in communalism and

social democracy, a world without discrimination based on race or

gender, a world where recognition of mutuality and interdepen­

dency would be the dominant ethos, agIobal ecologica! vision of .

how the planet can survive and how everyone on it can have access

to peace and well-being.

Radical/ revolutionary feminist visions became clearer and

more complex as the movement progressed. However they were of­

ten obscured by the absolutism of reformist feminists who really felt

llO DOI: 10.4324/9781315743189-19

2 0 1 4 . R o u t l e d g e .

A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d . M a y n o t b e r e p r o d u c e d i n a n y f o r m w i t h o u t p e r m i s s i o n f r o m t h e p u b l i s h e r , e x c e p t f a i r u s e s p e r m i t t e d u n d e r U . S . o r a p p l i c a b l e c o p y r i g h t l a w .

EBSCO Publishing: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost) printed on 6/27/2025 8:36:26 PM UTC via CERRITOS COMMUNITY COLLEGE 864857; bell hooks; Feminism Is for Everybody : Passionate Politics Account:ehost.

111 VISIONARY FEMINISM

safer working for change solely within the existing social order.

While some reformist feminist activists were really eager to change

economic discrirnination based on gender so that they could have

equality with men of privileged classes, others just believed the

movement would create more concrete relevant change in women's

lives if energy was focused in the direction of reform. However ulti­

mately forsaking the radical heartbeat of feminist struggle simply

made the movement more vulnerable to cooptation by mainstream

capitalist patriarchy.

Seduced by class power and/or greater class mobility once they

made strides in the existing social order fewer women were inter­

ested in working to dismantle that system. On one hand while we are

told again and again by individual feminist thinkers like Carol

Gilligan and others that women are more caring, more ethical, the

facts ofhow women conduct themselves in relation to less powerful

women suggest otherwise. The ethics of care women show in the

ethnic or racial groups with which they idencify do not extend to

those with whom they do not feel empathy, idencificacion, or soli­

darity. Women of privilege (most of whom are white but not all)

have rapidly invested in the sustained subordinacion of working-class

and poor women.

A fundamental goal of visionary feminism was to create strate­

gies to change the lot of all women and enhance their personal

power. To do that, though, the movement needed to move way be­

yond equal righrs agendas and start with basic issues like literacy

campaigns that would embrace all women, but especially women of

poorer groups. There is no feminist school, no feminist college. And

there has been no sustained effort to create these inscitucions.

Educated white women as the central beneficiaries of job and career­

based affirmative accion programs reaped bene fits in the existing

structures and were often not mocivated to do the work of creating

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112 FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY

institutions based on feminist principles. These institutions could

never pay high salaries. But even independently wealthy feminist ac­

tivists have not used their money to fund educational programs that

begin to work with women and gids who are disadvantaged when it

comes to basic skills.

While visionary feminist thinkers have understood our need for

a broad-based feminist movement, one that addresses the needs of

gids and boys, women and men, across class, we have not produced

a body of visionary feminist theory written in an accessible language

or shared through oral communic~tion. Today in academie circles

much of the most celebrated feminist theory is written in a sophisti­

cated jargon that only the well-educated can read. Most people in

our society do not have a basic understanding of feminism; they can­

not acquire that understanding from a wealth of diverse material,

grade school-level primers, and so on, because this material does

not exist. We must create it if we are to rebuild feminist movement

that is truly for everyone.

Feminist advocates have not organized resources to ensure that

we have television stations or consistent spots on any existing sta­

tions. There is no feminist news hour on any television or radio

show. One of the difficulties we faced sp reading the word about

feminism is that anything having to do with the female gender is

seen as covering feminist ground even if it does not contain a femi­

nist perspective. We do have radio shows and a few television shows

that highlight gender issues, but that it is not the same as highlight­

ing feminism. Ironically one of the achievements of contemporary

feminism is that everyone is more open to discussing gender and the

concerns of women, but again, not necessarily from a feminist per­

spective. For example, feminist movement created the cultural revo­

lution that made it possible for our society to face the problem of

male violence against women and children.

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113 VISIONARY FEMINISM

Even though representations of domestic violen ce abound in

mass media and discussions take place on every front, rarely does

the public link ending male violence to ending male domination, to

eradicating patriarchy. Most citizens of this nation still do not under­

stand the link between male domination and male violence in the

home. And that failure to understand is underscored as our nation is

called upon to respond to violent murders of family members,

friends, and schoolmates by young males of all classes. In mass me­

dia everyone raises the question of why this violence is taking place

without linking it to patriarchal thinking.

Mass-based feminist education for critical consciousness is

needed. Unfortunately class elitism has shaped the direction of fem­

inist thought. Most feminist thinkers/theorists do their work in the

elite setting of the university. For the most part we do not write chil­

dren's books, te ach in grade schools, or sustain a powerful lobby

which has a constructive impact on what is taught in the public

school. I began to write books for children precisely because I

wanted to be a part of a feminist movement making feminist

thought available to everyone. Books on tape help extend the mes­

sage to individuals of all ages who do not read or write.

A collective door-to-door effort to spread the message of femi­

nism is needed for the movement to begin anew, to start again with

the basic premise that feminist politics is necessarily radical. And

since that which is radical is often pushed underground in our set­

ting th en we must do everything we can to bring feminism above

ground to spread the word. Because feminism is a movement to end

sexism and sexist domination and oppression, a struggle that in­

cludes efforts to end gender discrimination and create equality, it is

fundamentally a radical movement.

Confusion about this inherent radicalism emerged as feminist

activists moved away from challenging sexism in all its manifesta­

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114 FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY

tions and focused solely on reforms. Advancing the notion that

there can be many "feminisms" has served the conservative and lib­

eral political interests of women seeking status and privileged class

power who were among the first group to use the term "power femi­

nists." They also were the group that began to suggest that one

could be feminist and be anti-abortion. This is another misguided

notion. Granting women the civil right to have con trol over out

bodies is a basic feminist principle. Whether an individual female

should have an abortion is purely a matter of choice. It is not

anti-fetrjnist for us ta choose not to have abortions. But it is a femi­

nist principle that women should have the right to choose.

Parasitic class relations and the greed for wealth and power have

led women to betray the interests of poor and working-class

women. Women who once espoused feminist thinking now support

public policies that are anti-welfare. They see no contradiction in

this stance. They simply give their "brand" of feminism its own

name. The representation of feminism as a lifestyle or a commodity

automatically obscures the importance of feminist politics. Today

many women want civil rights without feminism. They want the sys­

tem of patriarchy to remain intact in the private sphere even as they

de sire equality in the public sphere. But visionary feminist thinkers

have understood from the movement's inception that collusion

with patriarchy, even patriarchal support of some aspects of femi­

nist movement (i.e. the demand for women to work), willleave fe­

males vulnerable. We saw that rights gained without fundamental

change in the systems that govern our lives could be easily taken

away. And we are already seeing that happen in the arena of repro­

ductive rights, particularly abortion. Giving civil rights within patri­

archy has proved dangerous because it has led women to think that

we are better off than we are, that the structures of domination are

changing. In actuality those structures are re-entrenched as many women

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115 VISIONARY FEMINISM

move away from feminism.

Extreme anti-feminist backlash has also undermined feminist

movement. A significant part of the backlash is the bashing and

tras hing of feminism done by opportunistic, conservative women.

For example: a recent book, What Dur Mothers Did Not Teil Us: W~

Happiness Etudes the Modem Woman by Danielle Crittendon, tells

women that we should all stay home and mother to produce healthy

children, that we should acknowledge basic differences in male and

female psyches and that above all it is feminism that is at fault.

Critics of feminism blame the movement for all the dissatisfaction

modern women face. They never talk about patriarchy, male domi­

nation, racism, or class exploitation. While the anti-feminist books

tend to be written in an accessible language that appeals to a broad

readership, there is no body ofpopular feminist theory that serves as

a counter to their message.

When I talk with radical feminists, especially those of us who

are now in mid-life, between the ages of 35 and 65, I he ar wonderful

testimony about the constructive impact of feminism. It is essential

that we document this work so that it stands as testimony counter­

ing the popular assumption that all feminism did was make the lives

of women harder. lndeed it has made life far more complicated for

women to have feminist thought and practice yet still remain within a

patriarchal system of thought and action that is basically unchanged.

Visionary feminists have always understood the necessity of

converting men. We know all the women in the world could become

feminists but if men remain sexist our lives would still be dimin­

ished. Gender warfare would still be a norm. Those feminist activ­

ists who refuse to accept men as comrades in struggle - who

harbor irrational fears that if men benefit in any way from feminist

politics women lose - have misguidedly helped the public view

feminism with suspicion and disdain. And at times man-hating fe­

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116 FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY

males would rather see feminism not progress than confront the is­

sues they have with men. It is urgent that men take up the banner of

feminism and challenge patriarchy. The safety and continuation of

life on the planet requires feminist conversion of men.

Feminist move ment is advanced whenever any male or female

of any age works on behalf of ending sexism. That work does not

necessarily require us to join organizations; we can work on behalf

of feminism right where we are. We can begin to do the work on

feminism at home, right where we live, educating ourselves and our

loved Olles. In the past feminist movement has not provided indi­

vidual females and male enough blueprints for change. While femi­

nist polities are grounded in a firm set of beliefs about our purpose

and direction, our strategies for feminist change must be varied.

There is no one path to feminism. Individuals from diverse

backgrounds need feminist theory that speaks direcdy to their lives.

As a black wo man feminist thinker I find it essential to critically ex­

amine gender roies in black life to discover the specific concerns and

strategies that must be addressed sa that all black peopie can under­

stand the relevanee of feminist struggie in our lives.

Radical visionary feminism encourages all of us to courageously

examine our lives from the standpoint of gender, race, and class so

that we can accurately understand our position within the imperialist

white supremacist capitalist patriarchy. For years many feminist

women held to the misguided assumption that gender was the soie

factor determining their status. Breaking through this denial was a

crucial turning point for feminist polities. It enabled women to face

the way biases of race and class had led to the formation of a

women's move ment that was not mass-based.

We are now ready to renew feminist struggle. Anti-feminist

backlash exists because the movement was successful at showing

everyone the threat patriarchy poses to the well-being of females

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117 VISIONARY FEMINISM

and males. If feminist movement had not offered a true accounting of

the dangers ofperpetuating sexism and male domination, it would have

failed. There would have heen no need to mount an anti-feminist

campaign. While patriarchal mass media continu es to spread the lie

that males are not we\come in the feminist classroom, truthfully

more males are studying feminist thought and converting to femi­

nist thinking. It is this significant change in feminist movement that

makes it more of a threat to patriarchy. As has heen stated, had the

movement only focused on women, the patriarchal status quo would

he intact and there would he no need to severely hash feminism.

We are told again and again hy patriarchal mass media, hy sexist

leaders, that feminism is dead, that it no longer has meaning. In actu­

ality, females and males of all ages, everywhere, continue to grapple

with the issue of gender equality, continue to seek roles for them­

selves that will liherate rather than restrict and confine; and they

continue to turn towards feminism for answers. Visionary feminism

offers us hope for the future. By emphasizing an ethics of mutuality

and interdependency feminist thinking offers us a way to end domi­

nation while simultaneously changing the impact of inequality. In a

universe where mutuality is the norm, there may be times when all is

not equal, but the consequence of that inequality will not be subor­

dination, colonization, and dehumanization.

Feminism as a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and

oppression is alive and well. While we do not have a mass-based

move ment, the renewal of such a movement is our primary goal. To

ensure the continued relevance of feminist movement in our lives

visionary feminist theory must be constantly made and re-made 50

that it addresses us where we live, in our present. Women and men

have made great strides in the direction of gender equality. And

those strides towards freedom must give us strength to go further.

We must courageously leam from the past and work for a future

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U8 FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY

where feminist principles will undergird every aspect of our public

and private lives. Feminist polities aims to end domination to free us

to be who we are - to live lives where we love justice, where we can

live in peace. Feminism is for everybody.

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