Celebrating Women Who Inspire Us!
Today we celebrate all special women in our lives and celebrate the women who inspire us.
For me, one extraordinary woman who inspires would be Mikki Kendall.
In Hood Feminism, Mikki Kendall brings an entirely different and refreshing dynamic to inter-sectional feminism. In this series of essays, she sheds light on the social issues that affect women and how the work of mainstream feminism is counterproductive to those causes.
Kendall also cites the statistics that result in the deaths of Black American women and the daily trauma experienced by girls that impacts them in their later years. Other topics in the book cover housing, education, hunger, eating disorders, social mobility and politics.
Mikki Kendall writes with an acute clarity and authenticity that’s often very difficult to find. Hood Feminism speaks about a plethora of social issues that won’t just be relevant to feminists but makes for essential reading for anyone who cares about justice and oppression in society today.
So fellow book wormies, for anyone who might consider themselves a feminist (which I would like to hope would be most people), this is essential reading! A must-read if you will.
“Rape culture, a system that positions some bodies as deserving to be attacked, hinges on ignoring the mistreatment of marginalized women, whether they are in the inner city, on a reservation, are migrant workers, or are incarcerated. Because their bodies are seen as available and often disposable, sexual violence is tacitly normalized even as people decry its impact on those with more privilege.”
Published: February 25, 2020
A potent and electrifying critique of today's feminist movement announcing a fresh new voice in Black feminism
Today's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord, and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others?
In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger, violence, and hypersexualization, along with incisive commentary on politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux. An unforgettable debut, Kendall has written a ferocious clarion call to all would-be feminists to live out the true mandate of the movement in thought and in deed.
"If Hood Feminism is a searing indictment of mainstream feminism, it is also an invitation. . . . [Kendall] offers guidance for how we can all do better."--NPR.org
"A rousing call to action for today's feminists. It should be required reading for everyone."--Gabrielle Union, author of We're Going to Need More Wine
BE YOU, BE TOTALLY BOOKISH
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