Feminism Is for Everybody: Passionate Politics

hooks puts being lesbian at the forefront of this chapter, acknowledging that for many lesbians, women’s liberation was one and the same as sexual liberation. Though this fact may be true for some women, “[s]imply being lesbian does not make one a feminist, anymore than being lesbian makes one political” (93).

hooks openly admits that she “came to feminism before [she] had [her] first sexual experience” (95), and that when she wrote her first book, she “was attacked by individual black lesbian women” (95) because she “did not talk about sexuality in the book” (95). hooks explains that she was too inexperienced to address sexuality in her first book, despite having been mentored by a woman in her home community who was widely suspected of being a lesbian herself. Through these learning experiences, hooks discovered “that women do not need to depend on men for our well-being and our happiness—not even our sexual bliss” (95).

hooks values the lesbian experience in particular because they “bring to the movement lived experience” (95) of the belief that women can “be utterly fulfilled without the approval of men” (95). As well, lesbian women “who were most radical and courageous in the movement were from working-class backgrounds” (96) which means they understand the implications of class on feminism. Also valuable to the movement was their “understanding of what it means to be exploited and/or oppressed because you do not conform to mainstream standards” (97). The lesbian perspective is essential, especially as the media always seems to choose a straight, attractive woman to represent feminism, which reinforces the notion that male approval is important, even to feminists.

hooks concludes this chapter with a reminder that women are as capable of sexism and domestic violence as anyone else, stating that “equality among women was not inherent in same sex bonds” (98). As well, hooks reminds readers that all women must fight the “ongoing disrespect and subordination of lesbian females by straight women” (99), because the legacy of lesbian feminists “should be continually acknowledged and cherished” (99).

hooks discusses the personal implications of the politics of love and feminism in this chapter, lamenting that “[r]omantic love as most people understand it in patriarchal culture makes one unaware, renders one powerless out of control” (101). The possessive nature of love in patriarchal society suggests that love is a “seductive trap” (100), a notion that consciousness-raising groups implied while female members discussed the anger many women felt towards dominating fathers, brothers, friends, lovers, and bosses.

Actually, hooks claims, the feminist love experience seeks not “to break the bonds of love” (102), but to present a “vision of relationships where everyone’s needs are respected, where everyone has rights, where no one need fear subordination or abuse” (103). This vision of love is reflective of “the commitment to ending domination” (103), as true love cannot exist in a relationship based on “domination and coercion” (103). hooks asserts at the end of the chapter that “[m]utual partnership is the foundation of love” (104) and “[t]o choose feminist politics, then, is a choice to love” (104).