Feminist Crticism présentation

8/8/2019 Feminist Crticism prsentation

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Feminist Criticism

Presented by :

Nebal Ziyad JwaidMalk Kadri Benlahcene


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-The outline of the presentation

- Definition of Feminist Criticism

- Developmental stages of Feminism and FeministCriticism

- Interests, needs , and purposes of Feminism

-Feminist Rubrics

- Important Concepts within Feminism

- Post feminist Criticism


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I-Definition of Feminist Criticism:

Feminism is a political and a cultural perception based on the

premise that gender differences are the basis of inequality

between men and women. This biological essentialism is the

basis for the deterministic explanation for womens inferiority.

Feminist Criticism is not a 2Oth century phenomenon, but its

origins go back to Greek literature ,e.g.( Sappho and

Aristophanes Play , Lysistra).

However, it is only during the 20th century that Feminist

criticism appeared in a systematic way. It is so wide in scope

including writers and critics from different nations: Fatima

Merinssi, Leila Ahmed, Alice Walker, ...etc.


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Feminist criticism was influenced by: Marxism, Psychology,

Hegels opposition of logic, Bergsons subjection of reasonto body needs,...etc.

Some important Feminist works during the 20 th century:

Virginia Woolfs A Room of Ones Own (1929)

Simone de Beauvoirs The Second Sex (1949)

Kate Millets Sexual Politics (1970) (p252)


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20th century Feminist Criticism focused on :

the recognition of women as writers with a distinguished

identity, purposes, way of writing (gynocriticism); theinclusion of the cultural perception concerning gender issues;

the dissection of the intertwined rapport between the

previously this previously mentioned issues and males

monopoly with emphasis on the expunction of such patterns;the rejection of the previous theories because of their

limited vision and scope.( p 215)

Three kinds of Feminist Criticism should be known; French

Feminism where Feminists like Anne Lerlec, Marguerite

Daras, Julia Kristeva, Luce Iragaray and Hlne Cixous

participated in l criture feminine; American Feminism which


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was stimulated by the civil rights movement in the 1960s aiming at

liberating women, raising Black, Lesbian, and minority literature to a

better status; and British feminism which can be said to start withVirginia Woolf focusing on the social and economic context of womens

writing, their special use of language, and their heritage.

American feminist criticism: textual, stressing repression

British feminist criticism : Marxist, stressing oppression

French feminist criticism : psychoanalytic, stressing repression


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IIII--The Developmental Stages of Feminist criticismThe Developmental Stages of Feminist criticism

Roots of FeminismRoots of FeminismWomen must define themselves and assert their own voices in the arenasof politics, society, education, and the arts.By personally committing themselves to fostering such change, feministshope to create a society in which not only the male but also the female

voice is equally valued.

In Britain, feminism finds its beginnings in the mid-1600s when a politicalvoice of and for women began to be heard.

One of the major development in literary studies in the past twenty yearsor so has been the emergence of the feminist criticism both theoreticallyand practically. Initially , feminist criticism reflected the political goals offeminism in that authors and texts were judged in accordance with how farthey could be reconciled with feminist ideology.


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Goal of Feminism

Therefore, feminisms goal is to change these degrading views ofTherefore, feminisms goal is to change these degrading views ofwomen so that all women will realize they are not a nonsignificantwomen so that all women will realize they are not a nonsignificantOther and will realize that each woman is a valuable person possessingOther and will realize that each woman is a valuable person possessingthe same privileges and rights as every man.the same privileges and rights as every man.

Historical Roots of FeminismHistorical Roots of Feminism

According to feminist criticism, the roots ofAccording to feminist criticism, the roots ofprejudice against women have long been embedded inprejudice against women have long been embedded inWestern culture.Western culture.

Ancient Greeks (Aristotle) The man is by natureAncient Greeks (Aristotle) The man is by naturesuperior, and the female inferior; and the onesuperior, and the female inferior; and the one

rules and the other is ruled.rules and the other is ruled.


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According to feminist criticism, the roots of prejudice against womenhave long been embedded in Western culture.

Religious leaders: Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine

women were merely imperfect men Spiritually weak creatures

Possessed a sensual nature that lures men away from spiritualtruths, thereby preventing males from attaining their spiritualpotential


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According to feminist criticism, the roots of prejudice against womenhave long been embedded in Western culture. Darwin (The Descent of Man 1871)

women are of a characteristic of a past and lower state ofcivilization. Are inferior to men, who are physically, intellectually, and

artistically superior How does feminist critique start taking an action ? The combination of being intellectually talented but institutionally

marginal is one of the characteristics of the history of women ,education, and literary studies. Indeed, a womens movement, whateverits specific name and historical context, arises when enough women andmen find this combination unbearable


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Not until the early 1900s (Progressive Era) that the major roots offeminist criticism began to grow.

Women gained the right to vote

Women became prominent activists in the social issues of the day Health care

Education

Politics

literature


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Waves of Feminism First-wave feminism is used to refer to the

movement which emerged in the late 9th century and the early 20thcentury, more concerned with gaining equal rights for women,particularly the right of suffrage. Jane Addam,Sojourner Truth,Frances Wright, and Virginia Woolf were some of the well-knownfeminists who belonged to this first wave.

Second-wave feminism refers to the revival of feminist activity in thelate 1960s and 1970s, when protests centered again on the same issueof womens inequality. It lasted till the 1980s, has continued to existsince that time, and coexists with what is termed third-wave feminism.

The third wave, beginning in the 1990s, is both a continuation of thesecond-wave feminism and a reaction against the failures of the formermovement. While Simone de Beauvoir, Oprah Winfrey, Angela Davis,Susan Faludi, Betty Friedan, Germaine Greer, and Kate Millet added newdimensions to the second-wave feminist movement, Judith Butler,

Margaret Atwood and Bell Hooks were the more prominent figuresbelonging to the third school.


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Virginia Woolf A Room of Ones Own (1919)

Declaresmen haveand continueto treat women asinferiors.

Themaledefineswhat ismeansto befemaleand controlsthepolitical, economic, social and literary structures.

Thiskind of lossof artistic talent and personal worthinessisthedirect result of societysopinion of women: they areintellectuallyinferior to men.

Women must reject thissocial construct and establish their ownidentity.

Women must challengetheprevailing, falsecultural notionsabouttheir gender identity and develop a femalediscoursethat willaccurately portray their relationship to theworld of reality andnot to theworld of men.


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Feminism in 1960s and 1970s

Feminist critics began to examine the traditional literary canon

Discovered examples that supported assertions of Beauvoir andMillet

that males considered the female the Other

male dominance and prejudice


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* In 1957, Carolyn G. Heilbrun had reread Hamlet andShakespearean criticism.

*In the 1960s, most feminist critics were young and making their way.They were graduate students, nontenured faculty member, journalists,writers, editors Thus, there was a growing awareness of womensinequality and subjugation. But, itwould be wrong to conclude that onlywomens writing voiced these protests.

As early as1869, Mill wrote about the problems of womens inequality insociety, and pointed out:

What is now called the nature of women is an eminently artificialthingthe result offorced repression in some directions ... (Mill, 1970,p. 22). Since then, feminism has been interpreted in numerous shades

of meaning, reminding us of the classical onion peel image.


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Simone de Beauvior

The Second Sex (1949)

foundational work of 20th century feminism

Declares that Frenchsociety (and Western societies in general)are PATRIARCHAL, controlled by males.

Like Woolf, believed that the male defines what it means to behuman, including, therefore, what it means to be female.

Since the female is not the male, she becomes the Other, finding

herself a nonexistent player in the major social institutions ofher culture

Church

Government

Educational systems


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Simone de Beauvoir had published The Second Sex, her narrative ofwomens existentential otherness. A mark of otherness is ones inabilitytoshape ones psychology, social, and cultural identity. Beauvoiranalyzes mens depictionof womeninbiology, psychoanalysis, history,and literature. she started a debate that would boost feminist thinkingfor the next 50 years or more

One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman. Nobiological,psychological, or economicfate determines the figure that the humanfemale presents insociety; it is civilizationas a

whole that produces this creature (Beauvoir, 1997, p. 295)


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Kate Millet

SexualPolitics (1970)

challengesthesocial ideological characteristicsofboththe maleand thefemale.

Afemale is born buta woman iscreated.

Onessex is determined at birth(maleorfemale)

Onesgender isasocial constructcreated by cultural ideals

and norms(masculineorfeminine)


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Kate Millet


challengesthesocial ideological characteristicsofboththe maleand thefemale.

Womenand men(consciously and unconsciously)conform

tothecultural ideasestablished forthem by society.

Cultural normsand expectationsaretransmitted through

media:television, movies,songs,and literature.

Boys must beaggressive,self-assertive, domineering

Girls must bepassive, meek,humble


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Kate Millet


Women mustrevoltagainstthepowercenteroftheirculture: male

dominance. Women mustestablishfemalesocial conventionsforthemselves by

establishingand articulatingfemale discourse, literary studies,and

feministtheory.

Feminism in1960sand 1970s

Havinghighlighted the importanceofgender

Feministcritics begantorediscoverliterary worksauthored by

femalesthathad been dismissed ordeemed inferiorby theirmale

counterparts, unworthy to beapartofthecanon.

KateChopinsThe Awakening(1899)

Doris LessingsThe Golden Notebook(1962)


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Asearly as1975,CarolynHeilbrunand Catherine Stimpson associated

suchreadings withtherighteous,angryfirststageoffeministcriticism

How does feminist critique start taking an action?How does feminist critique start taking an action?**Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopa,Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopa, a Venetiannoblewoman,a Venetiannoblewoman,

wasonthethe women whostrugglesuccessfully foraformalwasonthethe women whostrugglesuccessfully foraformal

education. She wasthefirst womantoearna doctorateofeducation. She wasthefirst womantoearna doctorateof

philosophy in1678.philosophy in1678.

**Sarah Fyge Field EgertonSarah Fyge Field Egerton wasoneofthosefeminist whowasoneofthosefeminist whobroadly legitimated thenotionofwomenasthinking beings.broadly legitimated thenotionofwomenasthinking beings.

These ideaspostulated that women werecapableofThese ideaspostulated that women werecapableof

--selfself-- definitiondefinition

--lifeofmindlifeofmind

--InThe Emulationshe declares:InThe Emulationshe declares:

And shall weWomennow sittamely by,And shall weWomennow sittamely by,

Makenoexcursions in Philosophy,Makenoexcursions in Philosophy,

Orgraceourthoughts intuneful Poetry?Orgraceourthoughts intuneful Poetry?

We will ourrights in LearningsWorld maintain,We will ourrights in LearningsWorld maintain,

Witsempire,now,shall know aFemale ReignWitsempire,now,shall know aFemale Reign


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II.A.Elaine Showalter s division:

1. Feminine/Imitative: During the 19th century women imitatedmales aesthetic because of the long held belief of womens

inferiority in terms of their mental and creative powers.

2. Feminist: Between 1880s and 1980s, women experienced a

striking political awareness. Thus, calls for autonomy andrejection of the existing cultural stereotypes were their main

concern.

3. Female/ Self-discovery( 1920-1960s): women freed

themselves, neglected the patriarchal entourage, and turnedto discover themselves.


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II.B. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar:1. In their works The Mad Women in the Attic: The Women Writer and

the Nineteenth Century Literary Imagination(1979), they explained

how women through their writing expressed a sense of anxiety and

pathologies caused by mens oppression.

2. They explained the hidden message behind the apparent conforming

womens literary texts.

3. The development of what is called affiliation complex in the

developed stage of Feminist criticism.

They analyze literature in relationship to the myths created bymen andchallenge such patterns;

Passive, submissive angel Destructive, sinister monster


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VI-Feminist Rubrics:

Defiance of Difference:

Sexual difference is the source of discrimintaion. women writers

should utilize a new terminology to protray this dire state of affairs.

This discrimination should be detected throughout history. The latter

showed that this marginalisation is due to the non-conforming attitudeof women in their writing to the canonized texts of men. The only

resort was to rewriting history and reforming educational curricula.

Celebration of Difference:

women experienced what is called the joy of difference .Thiscelebration resulted in a prolific varied literary production


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prduction.They went further in posing questions upon the nature of

differences, its effect on reading and writing, especially on womens

writing(criture feminine) stylistic and thematic features.Many writersdevelop a comparative mode focusing on their heritage and theirliterary

maturity.(p 259-262)

The recognition of differencesIn the 1970s, feminist critics divided into several different critical

communities Critical community

This means both-a cluster that unites the principles of feminism and feminist criticismwith participation in a particular social group, primarily one that claimsminority or marginal status.

-the theoretical affinity


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V. Some important key concepts within Feminist Criticism

-A

ppropiation: is related womens bodies and their assigned funtions bymen.

-Authority: how women were deprived from authority in different fieldsby men.

-Authorship: the significance and importance of writing for women. is

the pen a metaphorical penis? - Body: an ambivalent concept being a source of weakenss and at the same

time of strength.

-Conciousness raising: is based on exchanging experiences ofsuffernings, and oppression.

-Essentialism: a term based on the biological charactersistics of women.

-Hysteria: during the 19th century, it was believed that the majority ofwomen suffer from nervous disorders if they consume a lot of energy.


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-Marginalization: refers to womens state within patriarchal societies.

-Patriarchy: refers to male dominance over women.

-Gynocriticsm:a term coined by Elaine Showalter referring to puttingemphasis on women s writing throughout history rather than adaptingmale models.

-Gynesis: is developed by Alice Jardine focusing on the woman as awriting effect.


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VI- Post feminism

Different feminist groups appear depending on the recognition of thedifferences such as

Liberal feminism

Marxist feminism

Black feminismWomanism

Multiracial feminism

Individualist feminism

Post structuralism and post-modern

Ecofeminism

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Feminist Crticism présentation