A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
“The fights against hunger, homelessness, poverty, health disparities, poor schools, homophobia, transphobia, and domestic violence are feminist fights. Kendall offers a feminism rooted in the livelihood of everyday women.” —Ibram X. Kendi, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of How to Be an Antiracist, in The Atlantic
“One of the most important books of the current moment.”—Time
“A rousing call to action... It should be required reading for everyone.”—Gabrielle Union, author of We’re Going to Need More Wine
A potent and electrifying critique of today’s feminist movement announcing a fresh new voice in black feminism
Today's feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others?
In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement, arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger, violence, and hypersexualization, along with incisive commentary on reproductive rights, politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux. An unforgettable debut, Kendall has written a ferocious clarion call to all would-be feminists to live out the true mandate of the movement in thought and in deed.
This is a good overview of the need for feminism to be intersectional, although each essay could easily be its own full length book. At times there were vague mentions of what seemed like highly specific incidents that sent me scrambling for Google in a "who did what now?" search to give necessary context. The very short essay on healthcare tried to do entirely do too much (covering maternal mortality rates for black mothers and rights to access healthcare for transmen and women and disability rights and access to abortion all in about 15 pages). Essays that stand out as the most effective include chapters on housing and hunger being feminist issues. I was the most engaged when the author drew on her own experiences (or experiences of people she knew), because it started veering into sociology textbook territory at other times. If I was recommending this to someone, I would tell them that it is a good starting point and that they should also seek out books that dive more specifically into the topics covered here.
Reading updates
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Started reading
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22 June, 2020:
Finished reading
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22 June, 2020:
Reviewed