Too Many -isms

"Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression" (Hooks, 1). Isn't that what racism, classism, ageism, etc. also try to do? Just put -ism at the end of any word and there you have a new movement! I understand the need for equality, but a double standard is always involved. Feminism is a good example, I think, of context vs. content. We need to know the history, the background, of the era in order to understand the meaning behind the driving forces of the movement. This topic definitely has a center. I became frustrated at points with the Hooks reading and wanted to move to the content like Barry did. Analyzing the words, the language, the form was more interesting to me than interpreting meaning for this particular unit. Therefore, I think I want to focus on the idea Barry presents with language and how there is masculine and feminine language.

Having recently read the Bronte canon, I find that what Barry discusses holds some truth to it. When Charlotte wrote The Professor, she was trying to write from a male's point of view - the book was horrible. Most authors write what they know. I admire Ms. Bronte for publishing an average book under a male pseudonym (Acton Bell), but her best work was written from her female perspective. I agree that we learn our gender through our culture and our society; and the patriarch of our world causes a cultural oppression expected by all individuals. Literature only seems to reiterate that. One of the things I liked about Hook was she was not 'anti-male' or male-bashing, but she wanted to end sexism for both parties involved. Literature could be the mechanism that offers the solution; but couldn't literature do that for any of the -isms?

From the beginning of time, women have had to work hard to be recognized because of a male dominated society. Our literature is a reflection of the struggles humanity has faced, and feminism in only one of the many different struggles we have encountered in our short existence on Earth. Remember, our literature is a record of our human experiences and we rely on it to show us the world as it was, is, and might be. This particular movement and these particular readings are a good example of how important context is in literature. Through the context we learn the content. When we understand the content, we can understand the language be it masculine or feminine.