readings for the day

I really enjoyed the readings by and on bell hooks. (Now I know why James is such a big fan). She's a really dynamic person and strives to be different. I really admire that. hooks lived an extraordinary life. She had to fight many injustices as both a minority and a woman. She published so many books to show these injustices and misconceptions to the world. Much like Villanueva, she used education to enable herself to speak freely.

As Villanueva believes, we should refer to the past to help us learn about the present and sometimes even the future. I think that in the past feminism was necessary, but today I find that things have evened out to the degree that we probably don't need much feminism anymore. What do you guys think? Males are starting to wear color and are becoming more able to express themselves without being attacked. We have gone so far in history so that women can get equal pay and don't have to face harassment for being women in the workplace. There are women who are obtaining jobs traditionally for males and vice versa.

Reading Campbell's piece about the misconceptions about women really irks me. Why did women suddenly turn masculine when they spoke in public? Why were their brains considered smaller thereby making them inferior to men? Preposterous.

This brings me back to hooks when she speaks of thinking critically about domination. Well, there are various reasons for domination. Some wish for power so they can do whatever they wish. Some dominate because they think they know better than the others. Some dominate because they truly care about their followers and want to protect them. Therefore, we need to think about these things. Regarding politics, dictators could be extreme leaders who use power for their own benefits. Most presidents or other world leaders may want power but may also care for their constituents. Power is a tricky thing that most people don’t really know how to use or manipulate. This ignorance leads to intentional or even unintentional domination.