Issue link: http://cp.revolio.com/i/30780
like ‘bell’s gone soft.’ It’s not about going soft; it’s about knowing what can save our planet.” ‘‘ women in the late ’60s/early ’70s. Of course we found out that the romance wasn’t all that we thought it was. It was very conventional in some ways, but still she was a great inspiration to me. Ms.: And you serve that role for a lot of us, myself included. bell hooks: Hallelujah! Ms.: With my generation of feminists—I’m 39—do you think there’s been a failure to carry the torch? bell hooks: I wouldn’t say there’s a failure. It’s much hard- er for young women today to practice feminism because so much is expected of you all. And you really see, if you watch television, that you’re expected to be slim and beautiful, smart and the equals of men, but to subordinate yourselves to men whenever that’s appropriate for getting ahead. So many mixed messages leave a lot of young women feeling depressed—not in feminist practice but not subjugated either. More like lost. It’s our responsibili- ty as feminist thinkers and advocates to share more of how to live in the world. Gloria Steinem and I had a conversation recently at Berea with around 20 women from the college and com- munity. People want to know how to live in this world as feminists, not just how to think feminism. When I walk out my door and some redneck white old man calls me “doll baby,” how do I deal with that? I deal with it by rec- ognizing in the scheme of what people are enduring in the world, if all I have to address in that moment is a man call- ing me “doll baby,” I don’t have to freak out about that be- cause I’m an advocate of feminist politics. And women who are heterosexual want to know how to have partnerships with men. I meet a lot more young men who advocate feminism than ever before, but they’re often not the men that young women desire. Ms.: So clearly there need to be more conversations taking place across generations as well as across genders. bell hooks: I agree. One of the negatives of the whole idea of the “First Wave, Second Wave, Third Wave” is that it 42 | SPRING 2011 So many readers were upset that I was writing about love—it was divided people off from one another, rather than recog- nizing that if we’re talking about feminism as a political movement to end domination, to end sexism and sexist oppression, then we’re not talking about categories. We’re just talking about politics. How do we advocate feminist politics in such a way that it permeates every aspect of our lives, of our government, of religion? One of the worst things to happen to feminism is that people perceive it as a lifestyle that some people choose and not a politics. Ms.: I noticed that you’ve appeared on Twitter. Is social media a useful tool to reach across generations? bell hooks: I’ve been a person who doesn’t use the Internet or have a cell phone, and it’s because of young feminists, men and women, because of their demand for my work, that I’ve come more into technology. All media can be used to educate for critical consciousness. A lot of people don’t real- ize that before his death, Martin Luther King Jr. was already warning us about the danger of being too enamored of new technologies and not using them for social justice. The challenge is especially true for people in their 20s, because the media have kind of forgotten people in my generation. It’s not trying to seduce us, but it has a power- ful effect on young people’s ethics and values. A lot of me- dia says, to young women especially, that anything goes. Ms.: I also noticed that you’ve been tweeting about love. bell hooks: I’m still obsessed with love! I really believe that love as a political transformative force in our society can change the world. It’s been love that motivates people to the most deep and profound change. In fact, I was think- ing about doing a short book about this whole journey, going around the country and talking to people about love. So many bell hooks’ readers [were] upset that I was writ- ing about love—it was like “bell’s gone soft,” and I kept thinking, They don’t get it. It’s not about going soft at all; it’s about knowing what can save our planet. Which is people connecting, communicating, showing loving-kindness. Ms.: A woman who talks about love is still suspect. bell hooks: Oh definitely. I always tease people that if Cornel West had started talking about how we need to go back to love, people would say, “Oh gosh, he’s just a genius. That’s brilliant.” But when I talk about love peo- ple say, “Oh, she’s gone soft; it’s trivial.” And that’s really sad because to speak of love as a force against domination is just such a powerful call. Ms.: There are so many hot-button issues I’d like to get your thoughts on. So let’s do a kind of “what would bell hooks say?” www.feminist.org