Feminism

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Feminism

• By Daniela, Harini, Tola, Mike C., Katie

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(Activity)
Goal sell it for profit!
GIRLS

• VS.

GUYS
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• Began with the rediscovery of neglected or
  forgotten female writers and has grown into the
  attempt to redefine the gender in literary
  studies.

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Feminism

• Defined as a matter of what is absent rather than
  present
• Concerned with marginalization of all women
• Belief that our culture is patriarchal (organized
  in favor of mens interests)
• Examine experiences of women from all races,
  classes, cultures
• Exhibits liberal tolerance, interdisciplinary
  links, connects art to the diversities of life

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• Represents one of the most important social,
  economic, and artistic revolutions of modern times

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Goals.

• Expose patriarchal principles and resulting
  theories
• Promote discovery and reevaluation of literature
  by women
• Examine social, cultural, and psychosexual
  contexts of literature/criticism

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What is a woman? -DeBeauvoir

• She is constructed differently BY men.
• Man defines the human, NOT woman.

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Phases of Womens Literary
Development

• 1840-80, Feminine Women writers imitated the
  dominate tradition
• 1880-1920, Feminist Women advocated a variety
  of minority rights, protests
• 1920-Today, Female Dependency on opposition

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Art Womens rights

• Attacked by those who are suspicious of its
  social values and fear its politicizing artistic
  value
• Some feel the issue of art is not a question
  about womens rights but about the entire nature
  or literary criticism

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• Caused major reorientation of values in literary
  studies
• Will continue to challenge long-held beliefs and
  practices
• Female critics feel it has become too theoretical
  and too entirely radical and has lost sight of
  both its social roots and its application to
  reading texts
• Believe that no man can possibly read, write, or
  teach as a feminist

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feels

• Much is lacking
• Early feminist critics look at women in male
  novels in a naïve fashion, treating the
  characters as real people and predictable not
  finding them portrayed correctly
• Finds later feminist critics to be unsuccessful
  in the attempt discover a distinctively female
  way of writing or a womens language

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Feminism in the future

• Continues to flourish in its many forms
• Will continue to offer society and literary
  studies a fruitful and exciting set of
  intellectual problems
• Most feminists dont want to abolish male values
  they wish to do away with such gender-typed
  categories altogether
• Key to feminism continuing usefulness as a
  self-description which will lie in its
  willingness or unwillingness to grow with the
  times and not only lead the way to reforms but
  adapt itself to the changing needs of men and
  women
• Feminism will find itself transformed by its own
  creations!

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Four Significant Current Practices

• Gender Studies
• Marxist Feminism
• Psychoanalytic
• Minority Feminist Criticism

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Feminism Applied!