April 26, 2010

feminism and hula hooping

“i am a feminist. this is an evolving transformational process. i have been reading bell hooks for a dozen years now and i agree with most of what she says. these are post-difficult times in the feminist movement and all of us who call ourselves feminists or even those who are but can’t call themselves that because of the vicious backlash on the word, should read bell hooks.” i wrote this on my facebook status this morning. yesterday, coming back from nyc i devoured half a thick book by bell hooks and had time to muse on the meaning of the word feminism and how it applies to me. we are living in a patriarchal capitalist world with a rape culture. it is up to us to resist it actively. this can be done from our personal spaces, in our personal relationships, and in the way that we choose our battles in life.

i have chosen one battleground to be on the turf of the hula hoop. a strange statement perhaps, when you first encounter it. but those of you who know about bmore hoop revolution and who have read this blog know that it is not hard to make such connections once you view the hula hoop as a tool, a community tool at that, a maker of places to talk and be sexy yet protected in personal space. within a violent sexist society it is critical to maintain a kind of safe space which does not deny in some puritan way actual sexuality, especially for women. hula hoops can provide this space, if only temporarily. but beyond the temporary physical manifestation of autonomy that the hooping provides, there is the dual work of metaphor and meditation, since prolonged time in the hoop means time to think, process, and even communicate with others around an action replete with gendered connotations. there is a lot men can learn from and enjoy by understanding and practicing autonomous personal zone creation. in a peaceful non-sexist world we all can live in the comfort that the hula hoop affords us. so we can, for a moment of our day, meet theory with practice, in ways which are healthy, transformative, and provocative of better thinking. hula hoops are, in this day and age, resistance culture. don’t be afraid to hoop and call yourself a feminist.