Jessica Valenti and Bell Hooks each have similar but different views on feminism. They both find it essential to promote feminism, however they have different definitions on what feminism means to them. Bell Hooks is a well-known writer, educator and activist. Her books emphasize her view on racism and gender roles in today’s society. Jessica Valenti is an American feminist writer. She was the co-founder of the blog, Feministing, which she worked on for seven years. Bell Hooks and Jessica Valenti are both strong feminist that believe that women should be able to be comfortable in their own skin and have the same rights as men.
In the article by Bell hooks, she first describes her interactions with people who try to define feminism. She adds that her view of feminism is not angry women trying to be like men, but it’s more of women trying to gain equal rights. She focuses more on women needing to have equal rights in society and the issue of sexism. On the other hand, Jessica Valenti writes more about how women should feel good about themselves and have self-respect. Jessica expresses how feminism should allow society to see through the nonsense that would make people believe there is something wrong with them. A similarity between them is how they are strong advocates for feminism and want to enforce the idea of feminism to everyone they possibly can, in order for women to finally have equal rights to men and feel confident in their bodies.
Something that stood out to me while reading the two articles was how Jessica Valenti mentioned that people find feminism is becoming out-dated and not as important anymore. This section of the article was really interesting to read because I was not aware that majority of people on the media have mentioned how feminism is considered to be “dead”, since no one speaks about anymore. She also mentioned how society thinks that since there has been no big movement lately, that would probably signify that feminism has reached its peak, or that feminism is dead. This whole statement that she has heard from people really shocked me because I know that there is still more work to do in order to improve equal rights for women, but that some people think that feminists have succeeded in doing what they were intentionally trying to do surprises me.
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