Sisterhood

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Bell Hooks' article "Sisterhood: Political Solidarity Among Women." It then compares the concepts in her article to Linda Carty's article "The Discourse of Empire and the Social Construction of Gender." The paper argues that it is only through the construction of a multi-dimensional perspective on the realities of women's experience that we can hope to achieve a sisterhood based upon our common strengths and achievements.

From the Paper:

"It is perhaps understandable that only someone who knows the lack of empowerment could understand the critical importance of the littlest piece of agency and strength in one's life. Hooks' perception of the fundamental divisions that fragment the potential Sisterhood - divisions fostered and reinforced by the structures of class and race that are deeply intertwined with white patriarchy - one recognizes the extent of the struggle that remains for women. Consider, for example, the unpleasant fact that many young women today would not identify themselves as "feminists" despite their lives being built upon the advantages won by decades of feminist struggle. When hooks writes of how the focus on shared victimhood led many "white women activists to abandon feminist movement when they no longer embraced the victim identity" (hooks 107) the weaknesses engendered in the women's movement by this wallowing in "victimhood" become apparent. I have sometimes wondered why so many women find the terms feminist and feminism disturbing and alien to them. Hooks' contention that they are operating from the illusion of power serves to explain this otherwise inexplicable aspect of social identification."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Carty, Linda. "The Discourse of Empire and the Social Construction of Gender." In Course Reader: Women, Power and Politics. Toronto: Ryerson University, 2007, 120-126.
• Hooks, Bell. "Sisterhood: Political Solidarity Among Women." In Course Reader: Women, Power and Politics. Toronto: Ryerson University, 2007, 106-119.

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• Book Review # 49608 : "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood"

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