Hood Feminism

for all women has to engage with the obstacles women who are not white face.



Trans women are often derided or erased, while prominent feminist voices parrot the words of conservative bigots, framing womanhood as biological and determined at birth instead of as a fluid and often arbitrary social construct. Trans women of color, who are among the most likely targets of violence, see statistics that reflect their reality co-opted to bolster the idea that all women are facing the same level of danger. Yet support from mainstream white feminists for the issues that directly impact trans women has been at best minimal, and often nonexistent. From things as basic as access to public bathrooms to job protection, there's a dearth of mainstream white feminist voices speaking out against trans-exclusionary policies and laws. A one-size-fits-all approach to feminism is damaging, because it alienates the very people it is supposed to serve, without ever managing to support them. For women of color, the expectation that we prioritize gender over race, that we treat the patriarchy as something that gives all men the same power, leaves many of us feeling isolated.



When the obstacles you face vary by race and class, then so too do your priorities. After all, for women who are struggling to keep themselves housed, fed, and clothed, it's not a question of working hard enough. They are leaning in, but not in search of equal pay or "having it all"; their quest for equal pay starts with equal access to education and opportunity. They need feminism to recognize that everything that affects women is a feminist issue, whether it be food insecurity or access to transit, schools, or a living wage. Does that mean that every feminist has to be at every event, know every detail of every struggle? No.



It does, however, mean that the language surrounding whatever issues feminists choose to focus on should reflect an understanding of how the is

face an actual battle on the front lines while mainstream feminists clamor for access to the officers club.
The Washington Post

A searing indictment of . . . the modern feminist movement s failure to support marginalized women and to integrate issues of race, class and sexual orientation.
USA Today

This book is an act of fierce love and advocacy, and it is urgently necessary.  
Samantha Irby, author of Meaty and We Are Never Meeting in Real Life
 
Mikki s book is a rousing call to action for today s feminists. It should be required reading for everyone.  
Gabrielle Union, author of We re Going to Need More Wine

Cutting, critical, and consequential, Hood Feminism is required reading for anyone who calls himself or herself a feminist, an urgent piece of feminist discourse. It's a tough read especially if you've been giving yourself woke feminist gold stars but that makes it all the more necessary.
Marie Claire

My wish is that every white woman who calls herself a feminist (as I do) will read this book in a state of hushed and humble respect. Mikki Kendall is calling out white feminists here and it s long overdue that we drop our defenses, listen to her arguments carefully, and then change our entire way of thinking and behaving. As Kendall explains in eloquent and searing simplicity, any feminism that focuses on inequality between men and women without addressing the inequalities BETWEEN women is not only useless, but actually harmful. In the growing public conversation about race, class, status, privilege, and power, this text is essential reading.
Elizabeth Gilbert

Elicits action by effectively calling out privilege . . . This can be a tough read, even for the most woke and intersectional feminist, and that s exactly how it should be.
  Bust

Hood Feminism is a critical feminist text that interrogates the failings of the mainstream feminist movement and gives us the necessary expertise of Black women. Kendall skillfully illuminates the many intersections of identity and shows us the beauty and power of anger.  
Erika L. Sánchez, author of Lessons on Expulsion and I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

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. . . .  A much-needed addition to feminist discourse.  
Kirkus Reviews

In this forceful and eloquent series of essays, [Kendall] 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.
Booklist 

A frank account of who and what is still missing from mainstream feminism that will appeal to readers of women s and African American studies, and readers seeking a better grasp on history.
Library Journal

An energizing critique of the feminist movement s preference for white women.
BookPage

  Mikki Kendall tells it like it is, and this is why she has long been a must-read writer for me: incisive, clear-eyed, and rightly willing to challenge readers when necessary. Her exploration of how feminists fight for liberation has too often left poor people, Black people, Indigenous people, and other people of color behind is critical reading for anyone who is or wants to be involved in work addressing complex and longstanding inequalities.  
Nicole Chung, author of All You Can Ever Know: A Memoir

Mikki has been writing for years about protection, problem children, the limits and the usefulness of different kinds of anger, and the way sisterhood can be wielded as a demand. She s here for her community, and this book has everything to do with expanding access to it.  
Daniel Mallory Ortberg, author of The Merry Spinster and Texts from Jane Eyre

Mikki Kendall has established herself as an important voice in current feminist discourse, and Hood Feminism cements that place. With a compelling, forceful piece, Kendall has written the missive that feminists especially white feminists need to remember the racist history of who we are as a movement and to move forward with an intersectional and deliberately anti-racist focus.  
Dianna Anderson, author of Problematic

Every white lady should have this book assigned to them before they can talk about feminism in the same way that every human should have to work in the service industry for a year before they can talk about the economy. Ain t nothing but truth in these words.  
Linda Tirado, author of Hand to Mouth: Living in Bootstrap America