Feminist theory (bell hooks): feminism is the struggle to end sexist oppression; that oppression is intersectional, shaped by the interlocking of gender, race and class, so media representation must be read across these axes together.

What this dot point is asking

Within representation, bell hooks is the second set feminist theorist (alongside van Zoonen). Her contribution is twofold: a definition of feminism as the movement to end sexist oppression, and the principle of intersectionality, the insistence that oppression is shaped by the interlocking of gender, race and class. The exam skill is to read a representation across these axes together, rather than analysing gender in isolation, and to ask whether a product challenges or reproduces interlocking systems of oppression.

The answer

Feminism as ending sexist oppression

• A political definition. Feminism is about ending an oppressive system, which makes representation a site of political struggle.
• Inclusive. Framing feminism as ending sexist oppression invites everyone into the movement and widens its scope.
• Representation as power. How media represent groups is part of how oppression is reproduced or challenged.

Intersectionality

This is the decisive move that distinguishes bell hooks from a gender-only feminism. The same gendered code may carry very different meaning depending on the race and class of the figure represented, and privilege and oppression are constructed through the combination. In analysis, the task is to ask not only how a product represents gender, but how that representation is inflected by race and class, and how the three together position the figure within structures of power.

Reading media against oppression

This connects bell hooks to the wider representation area and to context. Because her definition of feminism is political, the analysis cannot stop at describing the representation; it asks what the representation does in the world, whose power it serves or contests. This is exactly the kind of link to ideology and social context that the higher WJEC bands reward, and it pairs naturally with Hall on power and Gilroy on race.

Using the theory in the exam

1. Name bell hooks and her definition of feminism as ending sexist oppression.
2. Read intersectionally: attend to gender, race and class together in the representation.
3. Show the combination: explain how the axes interlock to shape the representation.
4. Judge politically: ask whether the product reproduces or challenges interlocking oppression.
5. Combine with code-level tools, since bell hooks is a political framework more than a textual toolkit.

Examples in context

Reading a representation intersectionally with bell hooks. Suppose a set product represents a woman in a particular role. A gender-only reading would analyse how femininity is constructed through the product's codes. bell hooks demands more: the representation must be read across gender, race and class together. The analysis asks how the figure's race and class inflect the gendered representation, whether, for example, the product draws on intersecting stereotypes that position the figure within interlocking systems of oppression, or whether it constructs a representation that contests them. Two women represented with similar gendered codes may be positioned very differently once race and class are taken into account, and the combination is where the meaning and the politics lie. The analysis then reaches a political judgement in bell hooks' terms: does the product reproduce the interlocking oppressions of gender, race and class, or does it work to challenge them? Because bell hooks offers a critical and political framework rather than a set of textual codes, a strong answer combines her with code-level tools (such as Hall on stereotyping or van Zoonen on spectacle) to evidence the reading, names bell hooks, and anchors the intersectional analysis in the specific set product.

Try this

Q1. How does bell hooks define feminism? [2 marks]

• Cue. As a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation and oppression.

Q2. What does intersectionality mean for analysing representation? [3 marks]

• Cue. Oppression interlocks across gender, race and class, so a representation must be read across these axes together rather than through gender alone.

Q3. Using bell hooks, explore how the representation of a social group in one set product is shaped by intersecting factors, and judge whether the product challenges or reproduces oppression. [15 marks]

• What the marker wants. An intersectional reading across gender, race and class, evidenced with codes, and a political judgement on the product, naming bell hooks.