In the Introduction, hooks introduces herself and describes her pride in her work as “a writer, a feminist theorist, a cultural critic” (xi). She acknowledges that her descriptions of herself as a writer and a cultural critic are generally well-received, but her declaration that she is a feminist theorist generally seems to invite discord from her listeners. At this point in a conversation, hooks

tend[s] to hear all about the evil of feminism and the bad feminists: how ‘they’ hate men; how ‘they’ want to do against nature—and god; how ‘they’ are all lesbians; how ‘they’ are taking all the jobs and making the world hard for white men, who do not stand a chance (xi).

From these encounters, hooks learned that feminism is widely misunderstood, so she has written this book in order “to have an answer to the question ‘what is feminism?’ that is rooted neither in fear or in fantasy” (xii).

hooks declares that “the problem is sexism” (xii) while acknowledging that “females can be just as sexist as men” (xii). hooks points out that men “do benefit the most from patriarchy,” (xiii), and though “[m]ost men find it difficult to be patriarchs” (xiii), it is possible that “they fear letting go of the benefits” (xiii).