On women bonding over their shared strengths

“Women who are exploited and oppressed daily cannot afford to relinquish the belief that they exercise some measure of control, however relative, over their lives. They cannot afford to see themselves solely as ‘victims’ because their survival depends on continued exercise of whatever personal powers they possess. It would be psychologically demoralizing for these women to vond with other women on the basis of shared victimization. They bond with other women on the basis of shared strengths and resources. This is the woman bonding feminist movement should encourage.”

bell hooks, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, 1984, p. 55.