FEMINIST CRTICISM – Handout
By, Milana Ghadban & Sabrina Mtanos
What is feminist criticism?
- A type of literary criticism, which may study and advocate the rights of women.
When and how did feminist criticism start?
- Dates all the way back to when Aristotle declared, “The female is female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities.”
- In 1405 Christine de Pisan declared, “God created man and woman as equal beings.”
- Virginia Woolf made the biggest impact in 1929, with her book A Room of One’s Own.
- “In the first place, to have a room of her own, let alone a quiet room or a sound-proof room, was out of the question, unless
her parents were exceptionally rich or very noble, even up to the beginning of the nineteenth century…Such material
difficulties were formidable; but much worse were the immaterial. The indifference of the world which Keats and Flaubert
and other men of genius have found so hard to bear was in her case not indifference but hostility.”
- Today women are a wide-ranging theoretical critic of traditional thought and social practice.
What is the cultural aspect of feminism?
- Cultural feminism highlights the differences between men and women that refer to the belief that the gender differences
are part of the fundamental nature of females or males and that the differences are not chosen but are part of the nature of
woman or man, based on biological differences in reproductive capability.
- Cultural feminism looks for ways to improve the relationship between male and female and many times the different
cultures by honoring women’s unique qualities, ways, and experiences, almost always believing that the woman’s way is
the better way.
What are the regional and political aspects?
- Feminism is a movement that advocates gender equality for women and campaigns for women’s rights and interests.
- 3 waves; 1st nineteenth century and early twentieth century, 2nd 1960s and 1970s, 3rd 1990s to the present.
- Feminist movements and theories led by middle class white women from Western Europe and North America.
- 1960s was the Civil Rights movement in the United
States and the collapse of the European colonialism in
Africa, the Caribbean, parts of Latin America, and
Southeast Asia.
- Since then “Post Colonial” and “Third World” feminisms
have been proposed.
- New Zealand was the first country in the world to give
women the right to vote in 1893.
- Sweden was the first independent nation to give women
the right to vote.
Fun Facts – Famous Canadian Feminists
1. Barbara Godard
o Associate Professor of English, French, Social and
Political Thought and Women’s Studies at York
University
o Founding co-editor of the feminist literary theory
periodical, Tessera
o Recipient of the Gabrielle Roy Prize of the
Association of Canadian Studies (1995)
2. Linda Hutcheon
o Professor of English and Comparative Literature,
at the university of Toronto
o Many theoretical works
WORDS
ARISTOTLE
COLONIALISM
EQUALTIY
HISTORICAL
CHRISTINE DE PISAN
CULTURAL
FEMINISM
LITERARY
REGIONAL
THEORIES
VOTE
RIGHTS
WOMEN
MOVEMENT
POLITICAL
VIRGINIA WOOLF
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Lombardi, Esther. "Feminist Criticism." Welcome to About.com. About.com, Web. 16 Feb 2010.
<http://classiclit.about.com/od/literaryterms/g/aa_feminist.htm>.
Oppermann, . "Expanding the Canon as Regards the Novel." Feminist Literary Criticism. Tripod, Web. 16
Feb 2010. <http://www.members.tripod.com/~warlight/OPPERMANN.html>.
Lewis, Jone Johnson. "Cultural Feminism." Welcome to About.com. About.com, Web. 16 Feb 2010.
<http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/g/culturalfem.htm>.
"Cultural Feminism." Spiritus-Temporis.com - History Events, Latest News, News archives. SpiritusTemporis.com, Web. 16 Feb 2010. <http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/cultural-feminism/>.