Present - Day Feminist Criticisms

Present – day Feminist Criticisms

Some scholars categorize feminist criticism into four groups:

• Anglo – American Feminisms • Poststructuralist Feminisms • Materialist Feminisms • Postmodern Feminisms

Feminist Criticism Subcategories

• Amazon feminism • Cultural feminism • Ecofeminism • Material feminism • Separatism • Postcolonial feminism

Amazon feminism

• Dedicated to female images – either fictional or real – in literature and art that emphasize that physiques of female athletes and physical equality both males and females.

Cultural feminism

• Radical feminism • Asserts that personality and biological differences exist between men and women • Women are “kinder and gentler”

Ecofemini sm

• Eco – feminism • Assumes that patriarchal societies are relatively new and that society’s original condition was matriarchal.

Material feminism

• Aims to improve the material condition of women by unburdening them of “traditional” female task such as housework, cooking, ironing clothes, and other domestic responsibilities.

Separatist feminism

• Assume that women must first see themselves in a different context – separating themselves from men, at least for a while – before they can discover who are they as individual.

Postcoloni al feminism

• Third – world feminism • Rejects phallocentric, patriarchal system established by white males and recognizes that it is engaged in a political and social struggle against male dominance.

Assumptions

• Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, politically, socially, and psychologically • In every domain where patriarchy reigns, woman is other • All of western civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology • All feminist activity, including feminist theory and literary criticism, has as its ultimate goal to change the world by prompting gender equality

Methodology

• Some feminist critics debunk male superiority by exposing stereotypes of women in all literary period. • Other feminist critics rereads canonical works of male authors from female point of view.

Methodology

• Some feminist critics use the methodologies of philosophy and psychoanalysis to overturn patriarchy with its accompanying phallocentrism.

Methodology

• Critics such as Monique Wittig and Helene Cixous propose a completely new, nonphallocentric discourse. Lesbianization of language (Monique Wittig) Process of experimenting and hoping to eliminate pronouns or nouns that reflect gender. L’ecriture feminine (Helene Cixous ) Creation of female language

References: • https://literariness.org/2016/06/05/anglo-american-and-french-femin isms/ • https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/encyc-of-case-study-researc h/n262.xml • https://www.slideshare.net/jordanlachance/ewrt-1-c-class-10-474594 55 • https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0219/1116323-ecofeminism/ • Literary Criticism An Introduction to Theory and Paractice.pdf 5th Edition