In this chapter, bell hooks begins by describing the prevailing belief that violence against women is rooted in systems of domination and sexism. She quotes anti-domestic violence activist Susan Schechter’s work Women and Male Violence, which supports this analysis of violence against women, then refutes it by stating that all violence can be traced back to the hierarchical nature of Western societies. According to hooks, domination itself, and not solely sexist domination, is the root of violence against women. Analyzing violence in this way also allows the acknowledgment that women perpetrate violence as well, specifically women who act according to white supremacist ideologies or exert or allow patriarchal violence against their children. Hooks states that if “all our relationships tend to be based on power and domination […] all forms of battery are linked” (120). Violence of every kind reflects the hierarchical structure of Western society, and people’s acceptance of sexist violence only perpetuates society’s culture of domination.

Hooks cites that male violence against women in the home has grown as more women enter the workforce; the assumption here is that men used to their place in capitalistic hierarchies feel compelled to assert their power in the home more often. Most men do not face repercussions for battering their wives, which makes it more likely they will engage in violence. Hooks claims that “black women and men emphasize a ‘cycle of violence’ that begins in the workplace because we are aware that systemic abuse is not confined to the domestic sphere” (122). The only way out of this cycle, as hooks sees it, is for men to reject sexist masculinity and engage in feminist politics.

To show the larger implications of the way hierarchical, dualistic Western societies encourage violence to assert power, hooks discusses how pacifism is considered a biological imperative; women are considered naturally more submissive and peaceful than men because of their gender. Perpetuating this notion simply “[reinforces] the very biological determinism that is the philosophical foundation of notions of male supremacy” (129) that links power to violence.

hooks uses this chapter to explore the ways that motherhood, parenting, and family life are represented by the feminist movement. She claims that the prevailing belief (put forward by wealthy, white women) that motherhood impedes freedom would never be stated by a Black woman: “Racism, lack of jobs, lack of skills or education, and a number of other issues would have been at the top of the list—but not motherhood” (133). As stated before, Black women have always worked and have always raised children while working.

Instead of emphasizing working in sexist, professional environments and eschewing family life, hooks wants more value placed on “the positive aspects of motherhood” (134) without romanticizing motherhood in the way some white feminists do. Hooks draws no distinction between the values of motherhood in a heteronormative house, a single-parent house, or a same-sex household, and she states that men should learn to value fatherhood to avoid power dynamics and sexism in the home.

The issue of childcare, who can access it, and the quality of that care is presented. Hooks describes how many Black communities engage in community child care with a shared sense of responsibility, a practice she believes underlies her anti-imperialist and anti-individualist thinking. She presents this model of community care as one to emulate.

Feminist theorist Germaine Greer’s book The Female Eunuch implores women to embrace sexual freedom, emphasize their enjoyment of sex, and accept their bodies’ sexual impulses. Though this book was immensely popular among women in the 1970s, hooks discusses how “many women felt disillusioned with the idea of sexual liberation” (149) when it did not impact sexist oppression and forms of power domination in society as a whole. Hooks argues that sexual freedom for both men and women will naturally follow after female sexist oppression ends. Moreover, sexual freedom requires that society accept asexuality, celibacy, homosexuality, and other sexualities that do not subscribe to a heteronormative view of intimacy. Sexuality should be accepted, affirmed, and engaged with on an individual basis rather than adhering to expectations placed upon the body by society.

In her final chapter, hooks opens by describing how the idea of revolution has lost importance for many feminists since the start of the movement. Instead, emphasis is placed on reform, specifically changes that can be made to improve a woman’s equitable social presence among men. Hooks finds fault in this approach as reform movements tend to label men as “enemies” and focus on evaluating male behavior rather than empowering women to “[develop] themselves politically so that we can begin making cultural transformations” (161). She concludes that the feminist movement will never progress until classism, racism, and capitalism are ended. The first step towards this, hooks argues, is for everyone to recognize that they are complicit in the systems of domination that allow such ideologies to take hold and commit to fighting in solidarity against them.