The gender scholar bell hooks famously described the United States as an “imperialist, white-supremacist,
capitalist patriarchy.”
That description has become popular in certain academic circles.
It is a core principle of many gender studies programs where the United States is assumed
to be a Matrix of Oppression.
But is that accurate?
Let’s look at the evidence.
Coming up next on the Factual Feminist Let’s start with Imperialist.
America is certainly an economic, military, and cultural superpower.
Yet it wields this power-- in the words of historian Niall Ferguson, “to spread free
markets, to entrench the rule of law . . . to impose order… and to pave the way for representative
government.”
This is in sharp contrast to empires from Persia to Rome to Napoleonic France and the
Soviet Union---who invaded, conquered, and plundered in order to enrich the motherland.
Even when the U.S. has invaded other countries, like Japan, Germany, Iraq and Afghanistan,
it has done so for a specific purpose, usually defensive—and it did not colonize them or
plunder.
When hostilities ceased, the US always attempted, with varying levels of success, to create
independent democracies, usually at great expense to the motherland.
Our record is not spotless.
But a menacing imperialist power, we are not.
White-supremacist?
The U.S. has a shameful history of racism.
But we also have a long and honorable history of fighting it, from abolishing slavery to
trying to overcome its legacy.
A recent study of racial tolerance by two Swedish economists found the U.S. to be among
the world's "most tolerant" societies.
(India and Jordan were among the least tolerant.)
Intersectional feminists claim that even if most Americans are tolerant, the white population
still maintains supremacy through a rigid set of political, economic, and cultural structures.
If so, it doesn’t seem to be succeeding.
Latino girls are now more likely to go to college than white boys.
And the most successful demographic group in the US in terms of income, education, and
life-expectancy is not whites, but Asians.
Look, racism is still a problem, but anyone who calls the U.S. a white supremacist society
is distorting reality.
What about “Capitalist”?
True as charged . The United States is a capitalist country.
Thank goodness for that.
Another term for capitalism is economic liberty.
And economic liberty is essential to human well-being.
Without it, societies are miserable, poor and oppressive.
Look at Venezuela, Cuba or North Korea.
Compare life in Eastern Europe before and after free enterprise.
Economic freedom, like all freedoms, can be abused.
In the US, we are constantly looking for ways to prevent that.
We don’t always succeed.
But the free enterprise system has alleviated more human poverty and misery, and broken
down more systems of oppression, than any other force in history.
Finally, patriarchy.
A patriarchy is a system in which men hold the power and women do not.
Women do hold power in the United States—they lead major universities, giant corporations,
and the nation’s powerful central bank.
A woman almost won the presidency.
Of course, that she almost won—or, more precisely, that she lost the Electoral College
despite winning the popular vote—is, for some, just more evidence for the patriarchy.
A headline in Slate declared: “The Electoral College Is an Instrument of White Supremacy
and Sexism.”
In fact, the Electoral College is an important instrument in our federal, representative
democracy.
But if it really is a tool of the patriarchy, then women are free to organize a movement
to amend the constitution to get rid of it.
After all, women vote in greater numbers than men.
But, of course, most women don’t feel particularly oppressed by the Electoral College, or by
much else for that matter.
American women, especially college women, are among the freest and most self-determining
human beings on the planet.
Are things perfect for women?
No.
But they are not perfect for men, either.
To refer to the U.S. as a patriarchy is absurd.
The U.S. has many flaws—few will dispute that.
But it is also one of the most successful, diverse, tolerant, and open societies the
world has ever seen.
Professor Hooks and the other intersectional theorists view the United States as a matrix
of oppression.
In fact, it’s a matrix of freedom, opportunity, and happiness.
Not perfect—but very, very good.
Well what do you think of the “America-is-an-imperialist-white supremacist-capitalist patriarchy” claim?
Do you find it as unreasonable as I do?
Am I missing something?
Let me know in the comments section.
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Thank you for watching the Factual Feminist.