Understanding Patriarchy By Bell Hooks: Article Analysis

Why You Gotta Be So Rude? As a young kid growing up, gender roles was an overlooked thing. Things you are not aware of in the first place go unnoticed like when females are the ones that have to tend and tailor to the male’s needs. As as a kid you do not really look behind the reason why girls are the ones who have to prepare their brother sandwiches. You just do it because your mom tells you to. Women all over the world have more than likely always been inferior to men, because we are usually seen as delicate little flowers who are incapable of being dominant and supportive in a two person relationship. The articles written by Emilia Parda Bazon “The Red Stockings” and “Understanding Patriarchy”, by Bell Hooks both support the argument that men (and sometimes women) have looked down on female’s capabilities and haved used violence to promote fear against females standing up for themselves or speaking their minds in hopes of trying to make a difference in typical patriarchal societies and families. As an illustration,

Hooks goes on to tell her story in the article of when she wanted to play marbles like her brother and was told that “girls don’t play with marbles.” She was later verbally abused by her father and then was beaten as punishment for trying to bend and test the waters of patriarchy by playing with a “boy’s toy.” Even her own mother told her that she needed to accept that girls can not do what boys do. What kind of leadership does that show to little girls if the women they are looking up to, are afraid of speaking up for themselves and her children. Although, it is understandable as to why most women just choose to be quiet and submissive to men instead of speaking up, because they usually depend on the man for their living and