Booklist Reviews
If feminism is defined as political, economic, and social equality of the sexes, then how does it account for a lack of that parity among women? Mainstream feminism is just that, normative, and tends to work for everyone save those who live on the margins. Blogger, speaker, and essayist Kendall is a Black woman who knows what it's like to live outside the majority patterns of society in general and feminism in particular. She has known hunger and been the victim of violence. She has fought for autonomy over her own body and had to justify her beliefs to the people she holds dearest. In this forceful and eloquent series of essays, she takes on the feminist myopia that ignores the daily existential struggles of women of color and encourages a broader support of society's most vulnerable citizens. If such support is forthcoming and awareness expanded, then not only will those outside the feminist establishment be empowered, those within the current movement will also be enlightened as to their cause's true universal potential. Copyright 2020 Booklist Reviews.
BookPage Reviews
Hood Feminism
Although there are more women CEOs today than there were at the beginning of the 1970s, complaints of workplace harassment and threats toward women who speak out have remained largely unchanged. But author and activist Mikki Kendall explains that the feminist movement has an even larger failure to contend with: the way that it has left behind women of color as white women grab more power. Hood Feminism: Notes From the Women That a Movement Forgot critiques the dangers of this exclusionary brand of feminism and exhorts those who support changing it for the better.
Throughout the book, Kendall points toward political arenas that historically haven't been tied to feminism, like food insecurity, gun violence and access to education—issues that largely affect communities of color. Kendall not only details the ways in which ignoring these issues has turned feminism into white feminism but also explains how these missteps have resulted in the failure of feminism as a whole. She convincingly demonstrates how this exclusionary behavior, intended to protect the interests of white women who "cling to the agency and selfhood they feel they have fought so hard to achieve," in fact results in an outcome that threatens those interests: a strengthening of the patriarchy that actively works against the goal of equality.
Hood Feminism addresses a world that has abandoned marginalized people in favor of creating more opportunity for those who are already in power. For Kendall, the work of feminism is not the achievement of female success but rather the achievement of a larger ideal: genuine equality. If that is the goal, the work of feminism is far from over.
In fact, with rising income inequality, surging gentrification and shrinking social services, the work of feminism has only just begun.
Copyright 2020 BookPage Reviews.Kirkus Reviews
A book about feminism from the perspectives of those often left out of the conversation. Kendall (Amazons, Abolitionists, and Activists: A Graphic History of Women's Fight for Their Rights, 2019) takes a magnifying glass and megaphone to the plights of marginalized women, many of whom are criminally overlooked or erased in mainstream feminist discussions of the hardships women face. The author frankly highlights how issues like race, food insecurity, gun violence, and poverty, among others, are all feminist issues, with many of them overlapping or serving to exacerbate others. Using history, pop culture, and statistics along with personal stories, Kendall demonstrates the problems with mainstream feminism's lack of consideration of intersectionality. She purposefully shifts the focus to women who are generally treated as a footnote and holds up a mirror to feminism's usual spokespeople by pointing out blind spots in a movement that claims to be for all women but which has shown itself to be exclusionary of most. A military veteran, wife, mother, and ardent oppone nt of respectability politics, Kendall shows how several talking points used by mainstream feminists and policymakers cause more harm than good to the groups they are trying to serve, and she supplies practical suggestions for ways to make worthwhile and sustainable changes. While acknowledging that no one is without flaws, Kendall also notes that we have a responsibility to make society a safer, more equitable place for women of all backgrounds. Sometimes, that involves stepping aside so someone more suitable gets the platform and support to do so. Kendall is a highly knowledgeable and inspiring guide, and she effectively builds on the work of black women who have, for ages, been working to better the lives of themselves and their communities. The book is an authentic look, from the perspective of a black feminist, at the ways mainstream feminism must be overhauled, from the personal to the policy level, and a demand that its practitioners do better. A much-needed addition to feminist discourse. Copyright Kirkus 2019 Kirkus/BPI Communications. All rights reserved.
Library Journal Reviews
In this collection of essays, Kendall (coeditor,
Library Journal Reviews
Kendall writes a searing critique of mainstream white feminism and its neglect of issues like hunger, the education gap, and a living wage, drawing on her own experience as a Black Chicagoan.
Copyright 2021 Library Journal.Publishers Weekly Reviews
Blogger Kendall (