Define Patriarchy as per the bell hooks
reading. Then through online or other research find an artist/art project who
addresses and challenges the status quo, patriarchy, and its systemic power and
dominance. Write a short description of the art project and bring it to class
in addition to your quotes. You can share this project on twitter or on the
blog if you wish.
Patriarchy is a social ideology
that has been around for centuries. Bell Hooks describes in her up growing how
her household was very much pro-patriarchy. She gives us examples of how
patriarchy is used to control people. She defines patriarchy as “a
political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating,
superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and
endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance
through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence”
(pg.18). This system of essentially belief allows men the right to do as
they please. Hooks claims that domestic and child abuse are a side effect or
this idealism that a man must have full control over any person or situation.
Hooks said that she was forced when she was around four years old to “behave like a girl” and not allowed to play with her brother. Her father abused
her until she acted the way that he told her to because she was challenging his
“control” over his family. That is the
bases of what patriarchy is and people don’t
realize that they are feeding into this dangerous system.
This is a battle that has been going on for years between men and
women rights. The bases of the arguments are that women can do anything a man
can and deserve the same respect and opportunities in life. However, Hooks says
that this notion causes psychological damage to men as well as women. We don’t always believe that there should be a fight for men’s rights, but
there should be. Men are supposed to be big and strong and fighters and protect
and defend people. So a man working in a nail salon or a party planner might
not be seen with as much respect in society. It creates in their mind the
thought that they are not living up to the standards of society and so they are
essentially meaningless. This damage is a major reason for why men feel like
they cannot be themselves. It is like the saying that “men can’t cry” or they
have to be the “man of the house”. Yes, women should have more freedom to do as they please and they
have all the abilities to do the same tasks as men. Although, most of the time
people like to fall back onto the comfort of what an “ideal” man can provide for the family.
These teaching Hooks claims a majority comes from religious beliefs.
Hooks states that a major key to this idealism comes from different
belief systems and the church. She says that “at church they had learned
that God created man to rule the world and everything in it and that it was the
work of women to help men perform these tasks, to obey…” (pg.18). People are
blinded by the truth because they were raised to act a certain way and they don’t even have a name for how to categorize their actions. This is
similar to the notion that a relationship can only consists of a man and a
woman. It comes from the illogical thinking that because someone said this is
right and this is wrong everyone must abide by it.
The artist that I will be talking about is Demi Lovato. Demi has
faced many challenges throughout life from growing up being a Disney star, to
her addiction problems. The reason why I’m using her is because she has proven
time and time again that she is not going to be allowed to be controlled. She
has learned to defend herself through martial arts and she even overcame her
addition. A few years ago, she wrote a song called “I Really Don’t Care”. I found so
much meaning in this song then just what it appeared to be. She was fighting
for everyone’s right to be free and liberated from social standards. You
shouldn’t care about what people say about you or how they want you to
behave and look. Just be yourself and be happy because when you try to be
someone you’re not, that’s when the problems start.
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