Katie D amico Feminism 1

							Feminism
By: Daniela, Harini, Tola, Mike C., &
               Katie
Goal:   sell it   for profit!   (Activity)


                                  GIRLS

                    VS.
 GUYS
Began with the rediscovery of
 neglected or forgotten female
writers and has grown into the
attempt to redefine the gender
      in literary studies.
    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 men’s interests)
   Examine experiences of women from all
    races, classes, & cultures
     Exhibits liberal tolerance, interdisciplinary
       links, & connects art to the diversities of
       life
 Represents one of the most important
     social, economic, and artistic
     revolutions of modern times
Goals.
 Expose patriarchal principles and resulting theories
 Promote discovery and reevaluation of literature by
  women
 Examine social, cultural, and psychosexual contexts
  of literature/criticism
What is a woman?
-DeBeauvoir
 She is constructed
 differently BY men.

 Man defines the
 human, NOT woman.
     Phases of Women’s 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
                Art & Women’s 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 women’s
  rights but about the entire
  nature or literary criticism
• 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
                                                     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 women’s
     language
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 don’t 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!
Four Significant Current Practices

Gender Studies

Marxist Feminism

Psychoanalytic

Minority Feminist Criticism
Feminism Applied!