malteengeler on Nostr: "The Will To Change" by bell hooks is 20 years old at this point. Its main message: ...

"The Will To Change" by bell hooks is 20 years old at this point. Its main message: Patriarchy is not just oppressing people seen as "female" but all of us. Patriarchy is twisting people seen as "male" too, forcing them into broken, incomplete lifes behind masks of dominion and loneliness. Being a feminist is not just an act of solidarity or politeness but a fight for our (male) souls as well.



Men that consider themselves on the political left may have heard most of what bell hooks talks about somewhere else, which is not a surprise. Her work has inspired numerous radical feminist thinkers. Still, it was a pleasure to go back to this book and read what was considered radical at the time of writing when "feminism" was in part still conceived as being in opposition to men. Bell passionately argues for a common cause to overcome patriarchy while very much acknowledging the terror that is male domination. Reading her plea for overcoming the divide between men and women in their fight against the patriarchy was still unique to me as her text noticeably carries the urgency of a time when it was not common sense within the left that patriarchy is hurting men as well. For that alone it is very much worth reading.



Sadly I was not wise enough to pick this book up by myself. It was - as it too often is - recommend to me by a significant other. Thank you ♥️