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Feminist Approach Resumen
Feminist Approach Resumen
Feminist criticism is a form of literary criticism that's based on feminist theories. Broadly,
it's understood to be concerned with the politics of feminism, and it uses feminist principles
Feminist criticism's roots are in women's social, political, economic and psychological
contributions to literary history, feminist criticism aims to reinterpret the old texts and
establish the importance of women's writing to save it from being lost or ignored in the
At its core, feminist criticism concerns itself with stereotypical representations of genders.
Thus, although there are many ideas that can be considered through a feminist lens,
feminist criticism is primarily concerned with a few ideas and issues that help feminist
critics examine gender politics in works, trace the subtle construction of masculinity and
Feminist critics argue that women's oppression has gone on for ages in patriarchal cultures.
In this view, women's oppression has social, economic, political and psychological aspects
and is tied directly to the traditional system of male dominance at the head of the family.
Patriarchal family structures are represented in nearly all cultures' old literary works.
The view that women are secondary
differences in male versus female physical and mental capabilities. In patriarchal cultures,
women are often granted few decision-making powers and are considered as secondary —
again, this view is seen in many books and literature across cultures and societies.
Feminist criticism has roughly aligned with the three waves of feminism, so there are three
rough periods of feminist criticism, each with their own defining characteristics, that
The first wave of feminists largely focused on inequalities between the sexes. This is also
Thus, the first wave of feminist criticism largely focused on how male authors and novelists
view and portray women in their works. Critics in this time considered the ways in which
Some key books from this time are Geoffrey Chaucer's "Wife of Bath," Mary
"Thinking About Women" (1968) and Kate Millet's "Sexual Politics" (1969). Ellman,
Millet and Germaine Greer played an important role in raising questions about the practice
The second wave of feminism focused on establishing more equal working conditions,
which were necessary in the U.S. during World War II, and bringing women together for
The feminist criticism during this wave is also called "gynocriticism," and it involves three
major aspects:
authors.
the ways women have been treated (and mistreated) in various cultures.
During this time, Simone de Beauvoir ("Le Deuxième Sexe", 1949) and Elaine Showalter
established the groundwork for feminist theories and helped them spread more broadly.
In her book "A Literature of Their Own," Showalter proposed three phases of women
writing:
1. Feminine Phase: women writers try to follow the rules made by male writers, try to
avoid debating and questioning women's place in the literature, and try to write as
literature, and the oppression of women in society is the main theme of gender
3. Female Phase: women writers begin moving from merely providing the woman's
perspective to having confidence in their work and assuming that whatever they
have written is valid and doesn't need aggressive arguments and support to prove its
authenticity.
feminism. It borrows from post-structural and contemporary race and gender theories to
The third wave's roots are in the "riot grrl" feminist punk subculture that begin in Olympia,
Washington in the early 1990s. That subculture began with the purpose of bringing
In this time, writers such as Alice Walker work to reconcile feminism with their own
minority communities' concerns. Some key works to understand this wave's feminist
Alice Walker's "In Search of Our Mother's Gardens" (1983), Lillian S. Robinson's "Treason
out Text: Feminist Challenges to the Literary Canon" (1983), and Camille Paglia's "Sexual
Personae: The Androgyne in Literature and Art" (1990). Riot grrls and Sarah Dyer's Action
Girl Newsletter also played important roles in creating the iconography and style for the
Third wave feminists, authors and critics argue that feminism's meaning has changed
considerably, and needs to now be viewed with a different perspective. They believe that
women need to rise above concerns about equality merely in jobs, education or family
settings. Instead, third wave feminists argue, women need to raise their voices and fight for
their rights.
harassment allegations against him by Anita Hill was a major tipping point for this
movement. For women in the third wave, Thomas' appointment illustrated the need for
There are a few key words in feminist criticism that one must to understand in order to
Marginalization: the process or state of being forced to the edges of social and
political significance.
The practice of feminist criticism.
Feminist criticism is applied to literature by examining the characters' portrayals, the text's
language, the author's attitude, and the inter-character relationships. Feminist critics also
What does the work reveal about the operations (economic, political, social, or
psychological) of patriarchy?
What does the work imply about the possibilities of sisterhood as a mode of
resisting patriarchy?
What does the history of the work's reception by the public and by the critics tell us
Ultimately, feminist criticism, like the broader feminist movement itself, asks us to
consider the relationships between men and women and their relative roles in society. Much
of feminist criticism reminds us that men and women's roles in society are often unequal
and reflective of a particular patriarchal ideology, and these realities are often represented
theorists ask readers to pay particular attention to the patterns of thought, behavior, values,
and power in [male-female] relationships. Feminist literary critics remind us that literary
values, conventions, and even the production of literature, have themselves been
historically shaped by men. They invite us to consider writings by women, both new and
forgotten, and also ask us to consider viewing familiar literature through a feminist
perspective."
By considering literature and the world around us from a feminist perspective, feminist
critics seek to make us more aware of our societies' attitudes towards women, especially in
By recognizing women's value and their contributions to literature and society, feminist
criticism seeks to elevate women to their rightful place in society as contributors to and