bell hooks and the true meaning of freedom

I recently received seven (!) of bell hooks' books. There are those who might find issues with the politics of this particular intellectual, but reading her, listening to her transforms her from an otherwise difficult theorist into a simple accessible one. For instance, her thoughts on popular culture. She does not attempt to bog us down with theories by Raymond Williams and Stuart Hall and the rest, rather, she goes for that movie that you absolutely loved, and tells you why it was a rasict and/or sexist movie. Take for instance, The Bodyguard in which starred Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. For all those weepy romantics such as I, it was le fabulous, neh? Wrong. hooks analyses the racist ideology that informed the creation of that movie, carefully looking at the position of the black woman vis-a-vis the white man. What were the several unsaids of the movie? what was the movie supposedly transcending and what did it actually not? Mphh! A mind-breaker, but guys you must read her. The book I am currently reading was one of her first. It is about black women and feminism, and the manner in which they were 'trained' to push aside sexism in favour of racism, while black men took advantage of the system. It is a book about the double oppression of women in America over the years, and the manner in which black women have, began to absorb their servitude positions in the face of strong black men at their expense. It has some interesting insights for anyone interested in feminism in general.Why have we for instance taught ourselves that to be a feminist is a bad thing? Think about it. I am currently enjoying Sex and The City. I have just been given the book as a gift, but I am watching the series. Now, why is it, that women who go for what they want, are labelled 'something badf and dirty'? Why are they considered feminists, aka outcasts? What patriarchal frameworks underly some of the assumptions we make when making decisions about what we can or can't do in life? Yet, aren't we, as women, happier when we are freer? aren't we happier being able to make our own decisions without anyone questioning them? Aren't we happier knowing that when we settle with a guy, it has to be a guy who can respect us? We all lie to ourselves and make excuses for abusive men, when in fact we do not have to! To read bell hooks is to discover the true meaning of freedom, especially for the eternally oppressed African woman. True, we may have variations of feminisms in Africa that accommodate various levels of patriarchy, but life teaches one to be wary of abuse, however slight. Do read any of her books. You can visit the www.allaboutbell.com website to become more inspired, for starters