Why famed feminist bell hooks reads patriarchal writing

bell hooks, one of America’s most influential feminists, says some writing she loves is written by patriarchal men. In this clip, she explains why she reads it anyway.

This clip is part of a conversation between bell hooks and Sharon Salzberg, sponsored by Lion’s Roar in partnership with the Garrison Institute and the JCC Manhattan.

Read the whole conversation.

Transcript

I’ve often felt wounded by white writers whose work speaks to me so deeply, but they just act as though we don’t exist. I think I read all kind of work, I read patriarchal men whose work I love.

How is it that they can live without reading our work, without wanting to hear our voices? Even if it’s just to be nosy, to wonder what those people are thinking. I mean, I live in the Bible Belt and I read lots of evangelical literature and someone said to me, “Well, why do you bother?” And I said, “I like to know what millions of people are thinking.”

Part of the construction of dominator privilege is you don’t have to think about what are those other people thinking, feeling, hoping, and dreaming. I think part of transformation is when you open yourself to wanting to know what those people who are not like you are doing, thinking, being.