Throughout the book, hooks repeats the point that feminism identifies a significant problem with patriarchy and sexism. Her repetition of phrases like “sexist exploitation,” “sexist thought and action,” “institutionalized sexism,” and “male domination” all work together to impress upon the reader that the problem exists in sexist behavior within the realm of a patriarchal society, not in any individual or group of individuals, male or female. In fact, any time anyone, male or female, behaves according to the assumption that men are somehow superior to females and should have control over women, that individual is guilty of sexist thinking.

In Chapter 1, hooks explains that “most people do not understand sexism, or if they do, they think it is not a problem” (1). This mindset is exactly what hooks has set out to challenge by writing this book. As well, hooks is determined to clear up any confusion around the relationship between feminism and the true definition of sexism. Anti-sexist thought is not automatically anti-male, nor is an anti-sexist agenda limited to issues around gender equality like equal pay for equal work and the fair distribution of housework between men and women.