BELL HOOKS - friend or foe?

In the essay we read by bell hooks on childhood love lessons, hooks makes several claims about child abuse. She has very good points, i must say, but not everyone agrees with her. I saw other posts about her that were not so positive, one person said that hooks didnt know what she was talking about because she, herself, is not a mother and another claimed that hooks' essay made her want to 'pull her hair out' . While that is all good and well, i think that hooks does know what she's talking about. It doesnt take being a mother to know what is right and what is wrong. That may be me just talking because i am strongly against hitting or parents hitting their children as discipline. I think that can be an example of how it doesnt matter who you are or how your parents disciplined you for you to be against violent discipline. As a child i was spanked many times and here i am today very against it. Hooks may have rubbed people the wrong way with her essay partly because she is not a mother herself and can be deemed as 'unqualified' to make these types of statements, but all i can say to that is WHO CARES??? Okay, so she may not understand how it feels to be a parent but i dont think she's trying to come off as 'oh, i'm not a parent, but let me tell you how to raise and discipline your children.' I dont think she's trying to say that at all. To me it seems like she's trying to tell parents, or to get people to understand that violence isnt okay. She's coming at this from a logical point of view. Not once in her essay did she say that she wasnt a mother so it shouldnt come into play while discussing it. You can speak your opinion on anything without having to go through it yourself. Like i can say jail is a horrible place but i havent ever been there.. that may not have been the best example, but hopefully you get my point.

Basically what i am trying to say is that there is no need to be angry at what bell hooks wrote. I think people need to sit down and realize that everyone has an opinion and are free to voice it. I cant even describe how angry it makes me to hear people argue about people speaking their mind. Theres no way you can change someones mind once they've made it up and i dont see the point in trying. It all comes down to difference of opinion and some people dont know how to respect that.