Feminist theory
Feminist Theory is concerned with the ways in which literature reinforces the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women. Feminist Theory examines how aspects of our culture are inherently patriarchal or male dominated and strive to expose the explicit and implicit misogyny in male writing about women.
A PRIMER ON FEMINISM
FIRST WAVE - MIDDLE CLASS MOVEMENT
GOALS OF FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM
KEY TERMS
A PRIMER ON FEMINISM
FIRST WAVE - MIDDLE CLASS MOVEMENT
- Started in the 19th century
- Focused on legal issues
- Has roots in socialist politics
- It was the first time people gathered to examine the differences between man and woman
- 1960s-1990s
- Anti-war; civil rights and awareness of minority groups
- Second wave Feminism has been easily marginalized because it included so many voices
- Starts around mid-1990s
- Includes post-colonial and post-modern thinking
- Destabilized constructs: womanhood, body, gender
- Strong women/empowerment
- Didn't use the term "feminist"
- Current
- Brought conversation back into public discourse
- Questioning the use of the word feminist
GOALS OF FEMINIST LITERARY CRITICISM
- To develop and uncover a female tradition of writing
- To interpret symbolism of women's writing so that it will not be lost or ignored by the male point of view
- To rediscover old texts
- To analyze women writers and their writings from a female perspective
- To resist sexism in literature
- To increase awareness of the sexual politics of language and style
KEY TERMS
- Oppression - unjust or cruel excessive use of power
- Norm - white, male, heterosexual, Christian, able-bodied, youthful, privleged
- Other - anyone who is not "the Norm"
- Internalized Oppression - when the Other has internalized the negative messages of the dominant culture
- Gender/Gender Roles - behavioral, cultural, psychological norms associated with a sex/set of perceived behavioral norms
- Public and Private - a binary that has been utilized to "gender" space: private is associated with domestic and feminine and public is masculine
- Hysteria - associated with women who have illness, mostly mental illness, or those that are "overly" emotional