Blog #1

I really enjoyed reading bell hooks' essay, Talking Back.  One thing that caught my attention was that she was punished as a child for speaking her mind, while boys were encouraged.  It really shows much women were restricted, starting at a young age.  There is no reason one should be punished for speaking their mind, especially because of their sex. not only did families and society prevent women from voicing their opinion but also the women themselves.  "The fear of exposure, the fear that one's deepest emotions and innermost thoughts will be dismissed as mere nonsense, felt by so many young girls keeping diaries, holding and hiding speech, seems to me now one of the barriers that women have always needed and still need to destroy so that we are no longer pushed into secrecy or silence."  This was my favorite quote of this essay because it is very powerful statement.  Women were afraid to expose their thoughts and feelings for the fear of being judged by others and also themselves.  A woman's silence could be taken as we are inferior to men, which is completely untrue.  When we write, we have to expose our thoughts and ideas to society to not only show that we are as equally powerful as men and to build up our confidence.  Quoted from one of my favorite movies, "Don't let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game."  This can be applied to a woman's fear of writing.  Don't let the fear of peoples judgement keep you from writing about something that has meaning or importance to you.  I really enjoyed reading bell hooks and I thought her essay was very powerful and honest.  I found this article by Nancy Smith and she also talked about the fear of writing as a women and also how woman's job is not necessarily in the kitchen. http://alansmithonline.com/empowering-women-part-5/