I did learn from this and was introduced to some new concepts, but I don't think the author succeeded in her quest to write a book about feminism that's easily accessible to everybody.

She covered the intersection of feminism with class and race well, but fell short in regards to sexual orientation and especially gender. She never mentioned non-binary or transgender people. The book was written 20+ years ago so it's not surprising, but it makes the title a bit misleading. 

In multiple sections, Hooks often said things like "the freedom to be lesbian" and "if they choose lesbianism," which I found very strange. It's unclear to me if she meant that women CHOOSE to be lesbian or if she meant they choose to live their lives freely as lesbians because they ARE lesbian. I really hope it was the latter, because you don't choose to be lesbian any more than you choose to be straight/bi/ace/etc. and that's an incredibly harmful thing to say.

This book also read more academic in tone than I was anticipating. The author used and mentioned phrases/concepts that I don't think the average person would know, and rarely offered any explanation on what they were. I didn't think to write any of them down so unfortunately can't provide examples. 

Despite it's academic tone, it lacked notes. No citations were provided, although she did quote her own books on multiple occasions. And some of her opinions were stated as if they were facts. I'm fine with sharing opinions and experiences; you can learn from both of those, but they can only go so far. Unfortunately, many people only want the facts. Additionally, a few of her arguments were not well explained. The one about child abuse perpetrated by women being the consequence of patriarchy really lost me. I don't think this book would win anyone over to feminism who isn't already open to the idea.

All that being said, I do think this book is worth a read. It's still very relevant. But I wouldn't treat it as an introduction to feminism--at least not for the average person.