Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center

bell hooks reflects on the feminist movement’s progress since she published her first book in 1981, Ain’t I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. She notes that Ain’t I a Woman was published 10 years after she completed the first draft. When bell hooks began discussing feminism publicly, there was no theoretical basis from which she could draw; feminist theory was still in its nascent stage. She notes the disconnected nature of the first-wave feminist movement; notable feminists were not in communication with each other in the same way that privileged, white academics are connected through shared, academic discourse communities. Rather, she states that first-wave feminism consisted of “individual women [who] were rebelling against sexism all over the place” (xii).

hooks situates her own entrance into feminism in her patriarchal, childhood home and her decision to pursue higher education against tradition. Second-wave feminism hit its stride while hooks was in university, and feminist theory emerged as a discipline. “[I]nitially feminist theory was the site for the critical interrogation and re-imagining of sexist gender roles” (xii) alongside reevaluations of women in history. For hooks, the intersection of gender, race, and class is crucial in discussing feminism and her main