The already-liberated claim actually signals acceptance of sexism.

Evidence

But such an assertion merely reveals that black women who were most quick to dismiss women’s liberation had not thought seriously about feminist struggle. For while white women may have seen feminism as a way to free themselves from the constraints imposed upon them by idealized concepts of femininity, black women could have seen feminism as a way to free themselves from constraints that sexism clearly imposed on their behavior. Only a very naive unenlightened person could confidently state that black women in the U.S. are a liberated female group. The black women who patted themselves on the back for being “already liberated” were really acknowledging their acceptance of sexism and their contentment with patriarchy. — bell hooks, Ain’t I a Woman_ Black Women and…, 545

Categorization

• XREF: Ties back to earlier chapters arguing that black women internalized and defended patriarchy.

Related

• 60s black liberation codified sexist role separation within the movement (similarity 0.83)
• White women already knew of their own sexist oppression before abolition work. (similarity 0.82)
• Both white and black patriarchies framed feminism as opposition to black liberation. (similarity 0.81)
• Black women needed a separate feminist intellectual tradition (similarity 0.81)
• Black women have always been free from femininity’s protective constraints. (similarity 0.81)
• Women’s liberation depends on liberating all oppressed strata simultaneously (similarity 0.80)
• Black women’s acceptance of patriarchy predated the 60s movement (similarity 0.80)
• Twentieth-century black women learned to accept sexism as natural fact (similarity 0.80)
• The American public idealized black women embracing roles they rejected (similarity 0.80)
• The women’s movement equated liberation with capitalist economic success (similarity 0.79)
• Black women rejected the movement’s execution, not feminism’s ideology. (similarity 0.79)
• Black male liberation leaders defined freedom as patriarchal domination over black women (similarity 0.79)
• Most black women chose the black patriarchy over the feminist movement. (similarity 0.79)
• Enslaved women were no more sexually liberated than white women. (similarity 0.79)
• Black mothers without feminist theory modeled practical liberation for their daughters (similarity 0.79)