bell hooks: Talking Back

I finished reading bell hooks' Talking Back and while I found it to be a somewhat inspiring piece it also left me with a few questions.  What inspired me so much about the essay was that it took a specific group of members within a social class and sought to show the reader how that group actually has more influence than most people believe.  While this scope of influence is less evident than a male's "voice" or "speech" but it is just as powerful.  However, towards the end of the essay she discusses how the malevolent forces working against her "voice" continued even after she had become a grown woman and had even become more powerful, so is there really ever a time when these forces don't hold sway over her "voice" or the "voices of similar women?