Zoey Bussick
03/12/2023
SCLA 102: Transformative Texts https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jOfu6qV0elADSr_hMZ8X6C86o1q6hdQv-uasmVuMRnI/edit?usp=sharing Family: New School vs. Old School
In All About Love: New Visions, author bell hooks (2000) paints herself as a strong feminist and provides commentary on love, relationships, and patriarchy based on her personal experiences. All About Love: New Visions was ahead of its time when it was published in 1999 due to its feminist outlook, but hook’s view on the family and its inner workings was the most interesting to me due to its unconventional perspective. Based on her writings and strong stance as a feminist, it seems that hooks is relatively cynical of the nuclear family as the most beneficial
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According to the Pew Research center twenty three percent of children under the age of eighteen live in single parent homes (Kramer 2019). Unfortunately, there is a certain stigma surrounding single parents, especially single mothers that suggests a lack of caution or responsibility. A lack of another parent does not mean that the child is any less loved or that the current and present parent is not capable of providing for their child. According to hooks, the traditional family creates a dependency and power imbalance “that became, and is, the breeding ground for abuses of power” (hooks 2020, 130). This power imbalance is a precise example of a social structure that hooks, a strong feminist, is against. Abuse and divorce can create single parents, and i n those instances it is sometimes better for the child to have one loving parent than to witness the abuse within or breakdown of an unhealthy relationship. The National Domestic Violence Hotline states that nearly twelve million people have experienced domestic violence, and nearly half of all people have endured psychological aggression within a relationship. In All About Love, hooks asserts that “Love and abuse cannot coexist” (hooks 2020, 6), which also means that hooks would be in strong support of a partner leaving an unhealthy relationship, especially …show more content…
2020. The Nuclear Family was a Mistake. The Atlantic, March, Ideas Section. Accessed April 14, 2023. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/03/the-nuclear-family-was-a-mistake/605536/ National Domestic Violence Hotline. n.d. “Domestic Violence Statistics.” Accessed April 14, 2023.https://www.thehotline.org/stakeholders/domestic-violence-statistics/
Kramer, Stephanie. 2019. U.S. has the world’s highest rate of children living in single-parent households. Pew Research Center., December 12. Accessed April 14, 2023. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/12/u-s-children-more-likely-than-children-in-other-countries-to-live-with-just-one-parent/
Scherer, Zachary., Anderson, Lydia. 2021. How Do Same-Sex Couples Compare to Opposite-Sex Couples. United States Census Bureau., April 1. Accessed April 14, 2023. https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2021/04/how-people-in-same-sex-couples-compare-to-opposite-sex-couples.html
Taylor, Danielle. 2020. Same-Sex Couples are more Likely to Adopt or Foster. United States Census Bureau., September 17. Accessed April 14, 2023.