Post 1 - Feminism

1.)

I highly agree with the definition of feminism that bell hooks gave in the introduction and in chapter 1. While I used to think of myself as a feminist because I was not about to be "kept down by a man", because I was going to go through all the schooling I could and be regarded as "Dr." (via Ph.D) after all the hard work, and because I was going to get the last word on whether or not kids were going to join my future-future...but after reading bell hooks' first few chapters in Feminism is for Everybody, I realized that the idea & action of feminism is more than a personal ideology...

Stemming from this, I would have to say that my definition of feminism would include everything that bell hooks had in her definition - but with the mention of the fact that the terms "sexism" and "sexist" apply to much more than women. The definition I would create would have to have something about the inclusion of men...not just women...

I do not think that bell hooks would agree with the definitions given on urbandictionary.com. While the definitions have seemingly good intentions behind them of giving an "accurate" definition of feminism, they have nothing to do with the ideas that bell hooks brought up in her definition. Her's is more along the lines of a movement to "free" everyone, in a sense. To use another one of her definitions, her idea of feminism follows that of the "Revolutionary thinkers" (pg. 4) because it is taking a stance outside of just equality for women in a man's world. As for the urbandictionary.com definitions they are thinking of feminism in terms of "Reformist thinkers".

2.) 

As stated earlier, I used to think of myself as a feminist because I was in charge of my life and refusing a man's view on things - but now with bell hooks' definition fresh in my mind, I am sad to say that I am not a feminist. My "new" definition that was also explained above brought me to the realization that I was all for equal rights - but only on the side to benefit women. The way I was thinking abou the way that I wanted to live my future life, I was keeping a hypothetical husband out of the picture by making all the decisions...by oppressing him... From my old reformist lens I was a feminist - but now, seeing through bell hooks' revolutionary lens, I see that I am not a feminist. That my view has been skewed from the world I grew up in (mom worked crazy hours while dad stayed at home), and was actually, in the sense of the actual feminist movement, the wrong way to look at things.

3.)

The first example of patriarchy I can think of is just the basic tradition of, when a woman gets married, she "takes" her husband's last name. Although the wording could be a little confusing, the fact of the matter is that it is usually assumed that the woman will switch out her last name for the man's last name - if this doesn't happen, or a hyphen gets utilized, there is usually quite a bit of outrage. For example, from the movie Father of the Bride: Part II (1995), there is quite a debate that goes on at an in-law family dinner where the name of a baby-to-be is talked about - as well as it's last name. The couple who are going to be having the baby talk about combining their last names to create a new one because the mother (baby mama) chose to hyphen her last name. The father's (baby daddy) father (baby grandpa) talks about how the baby should just get their family's last name because the other family has "a son to carry on their name". After that statement is made, all hell breaks loose, because then both sides of the family are arguing about how fair that tradition is and which name should be used. 

The other example of patriarchy I can think of is another tradition - the one where a daughter's new boyfriend is expected to come to her house and meet her parents...in particular, her father... I think this use of patriarchy is maintained just through our culture. I know that ever since I was in high school, whenever anyone outside my nuclear family found out about a new guy friend (and, even though it was just that, a friend, this question was still asked), they would ask what my dad thought about him. To be honest, in my house, my mom actually runs things more (she's the one I'd feel so sorry for anyone that got on her bad side). It might be because she has two daughters and knows what guys were like when she was younger, and knows that my dad will probably become buddy-buddy with the new guy before laying down the law in regards to what will and will not fly with his little girl.

Basically, both of these examples, now that I think about it, are carried on "through the ages" because of the ways they are portrayed in the media. As a final example, from the movie Meet the Parents (2000), the main character is terrified to meet his soon-to-be fiancee's parents - mostly, her father. Not only is he ex-CIA, but he is also the one who taught their cat to use the potty (an allegedly impossible task), and is "all there". This is a stark comparison to the fiancee's mom who seems very aloof and there is even a crude joke/laugh made at her expense. The ideas/ideals of patriarchy are perpetuated through our media and the messages that are getting sent to the younger generations to carry on after the message is no longer available.