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Bell Hooks

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“Any woman who wishes to be an intellectual, to write non-fiction, to deal with theory, faces a lot of discrimination coming her way and perhaps even self-doubt because there aren't that many who've gone before you. And I think that the most powerful tool we can have is to be clear about our intent. To know what it is we want to do rather than going into institutions thinking that the institution is going to frame for us.”

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“It's really important to have life strategies and part of that is sort of knowing where you want to go so you can have a map that helps you to get there. And the traditional way tells us oh we get into school and someone else advises us, helps us, but that often does not work for African Americans female and male. Because what works for the dominant culture often does not work for us.”

WayWantDoeImportantHelpingSchoolCultureKnowingFemaleStrategyMalesTraditionalAfrican AmericanMapsDominantAdviseDominant CultureFemales And Males
Author:Bell Hooks
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“I still think it's important for people to have a sharp, ongoing critique of marriage in patriarchal society — because once you marry within a society that remains patriarchal, no matter how alternative you want to be within your unit, there is still a culture outside you that will impose many, many values on you whether you want them to or not.”

PeopleThinkingWantStillsImportantMatterValuesCultureRemainsAlternativesUnitsOngoingCritiquePatriarchal Society
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“Genuine love is rarely an emotional space where needs are instantly gratified. To know love we have to invest time and commitment...'dreaming that love will save us, solve all our problems or provide a steady state of bliss or security only keeps us stuck in wishful fantasy, undermining the real power of the love -- which is to transform us.' Many people want love to function like a drug, giving them an immediate and sustained high. They want to do nothing, just passively receive the good feeling.”

PeopleKnowsWantNeedsGivingRealStatesFeelingsProblemDreamSpaceLove IsFantasySecurityEmotionalDrugCommitmentFunctionSolveStuckGenuineBlissInsightfulSteadyGood FeelingUnderminingReal PowerGenuine Love
Author:Bell Hooks
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“I want there to be a place in the world where people can engage in one another’s differences in a way that is redemptive, full of hope and possibility. Not this “In order to love you, I must make you something else”. That’s what domination is all about, that in order to be close to you, I must possess you, remake and recast you.”

PeopleWorldWayWantLoveAgeOrderDifferencesLove YouPossibilityDominationPlaces In The WorldRemakes
Book:Reel to Real: Race, Sex, and Class at the Movies
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“To return to love, to get the love we always wanted but never had, to have the love we want but are not prepared to give, we seek romantic relationships. We believe these relationships, more than any other, will rescue and redeem us. True love does have the power to redeem but only if we are ready for redemption. Love saves us only if we want to be saved.”

IfsWantLoveGivingBelieveDoeWantedReadyReturnPreparedSavedRedemptionAfrican AmericanRescueRomantic Relationship
Author:Bell Hooks
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“It is obvious that many women have appropriated feminism to serve their own ends, especially those white women who have been at the forefront of the movement; but rather than resigning myself to this appropriation I choose to re-appropriate the term “feminism,” to focus on the fact that to be “feminist” in any authentic sense of the term is to want for all people, female and male, liberation from sexist role patterns, domination, and oppression.”

PeopleWantHas BeensEndsFactsTermWhiteRolesFocusFeminismMovementFemaleMalesPatternsFeministObviousOppressionLiberationAppropriateDominationSexistAppropriationResigningFemales And Males
Author:Bell Hooks
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“Part of the racialized sexism wants everyone to think that a 15-year old Mexican is not a girl, she’s a woman. We know she’s a girl. We can never emphasize this enough, because this is the fate of colored girls globally right now: the denial of their girlhood, the denial of their childhood, and the constant state of risk and danger they are living in.”

ThinkingKnowsWantYearsStatesEnoughGirlFateRiskChildhoodDangerRight NowConstantDenialSexismMexicanGirlhoodColored Girls
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“Privilege is not in and of itself bad; what matters is what we do with privilege. I want to live in a world where all women have access to education, and all women can earn PhD’s, if they so desire. Privilege does not have to be negative, but we have to share our resources and take direction about how to use our privilege in ways that empower those who lack it.”

IfsWorldWayWantDoeMatterUseDesireShareResourcesNegativePrivilegeAccessEmpoweringWhat MattersPhdsAccess To Education
Book:Homegrown: Engaged Cultural Criticism
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“I mostly want to remind her of the recipes of healing, and give her my own made-on-the spot remedy for the easing of her pain. I tell her, “Get a pen. Stop crying so you can write this down and start working on it tonight.” My remedy is long. But the last item on the list says: “When you wake up and find yourself living someplace where there is nobody you love and trust, no community, it is time to leave town – to pack up and go (you can even go tonight). And where you need to go is any place where there are arms that can hold you, that will not let you go.”

WantNeedsGivingWritingLongMadePainLastsCommunityMy OwnHealingCryArmsWake UpTownsDown AndListsSpotsTonightFinding YourselfPensRemedyPacksRecipesItemsLetting You GoLove And TrustTime To Leave
Author:Bell Hooks
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“They wanted black women to conform to the gender norms set by white society. They wanted to be recognized as 'men,' as patriarchs, by other men, including white men. Yet they could not assume this position if black women were not willing to conform to prevailing sexist gender norms. Many black women who has endured white-supremacist patriarchal domination during slavery did not want to be dominated by black men after manumission.”

IfsMenWantWantedBlackWhitePositionWillingSlaveryAssumingIncludingGenderConformWhite ManNormBlack WomenDominationPrevailingSexist
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“In patriarchal culture men are especially inclined to see love as something they should receive without expending effort. More often than not they do not want to do the work that love demands. When the practice of love invites us to enter a place of potential bliss that is at the same time a place of critical awakening and pain, many of us turn our backs on love.”

MenWantShouldPainTurnsCultureEffortPracticeDemandCriticalAwakeningBlissInvites
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“In our culture privacy is often confused with secrecy. Open, honest, truth-telling individuals value privacy. We all need spaces where we can be alone with thoughts and feelings - where we can experience healthy psychological autonomy and can choose to share when we want to. Keeping secrets is usually about power, about hiding and concealing information.”

WantNeedsFeelingsValuesCultureIndividualSpaceSecretShareHonestInformationHealthyPsychologicalConfusedPrivacyTelling The TruthHidingAutonomySecrecyThoughts And FeelingsHonest TruthConcealingKeeping Secrets
Author:Bell Hooks
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