critical theory link

simone de beauvoir - the second sex

• argues that women are historically defined in relation to men “he is the subject, he is the absolute, she is the other”.

• “one is not born, but rather becomes a woman” demonstrating that femininity is a social construct created to maintain patriarchy.

bell hooks - aint i a woman: black women and feminism (1981)

• hooks argues that second-wave feminism primarily focuses on the concerns of privileged, middle-class white women. this focus obscured the distinct and compounding forms of oppression that women of colour experience due to the intersection of their race, gender and class.

• argues racism and sexism are not separate phenomena but inextricably intertwined.

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