Feminist theory is the extension
of feminism into theoretical, or
philosophical discourse, it aims
to understand the nature of
gender inequality.
It examines
women's social
roles and lived experience, and
feminist politics in a variety of
fields, such as anthropology and
sociology,
communication,
psychoanalysis,
economics,
literary criticism, education, and
philosophy.
Feminist criticism is concerned with
the ways in which literature (and other
cultural productions) reinforce or
undermine the economic, political,
social, and psychological oppression
of women. This school of theory looks
at how aspects of our culture are
inherently patriarchal (male dominated)
and this critique strives to expose the
explicit and implicit misogyny in male
writing about women.
Feminist theories have emerged as
early as 1792 (– 1920s) in such
publications as “The Changing
Woman”,“Ain’t I a Woman”, “Speech
after Arrest for Illegal Voting”,and so
on.
This books addressed the issues
surrounding limited rights to women
based on the flawed perceptions that
men held of women
While generally providing a
critique of social relations,
much of feminist theory also
focuses on analyzing gender
inequality and the promotion of
women's rights, interests, and
issues.
Themes
explored in
feminism
include art
history and
(especially
sexual
objectification),
oppression,
and patriarchy.
-The objectives of the criticism are:
1. To uncover and develop a female
tradition of writing
2. to interpret symbolism of women’s
writing so that it will be lost or ignored
by the male point of view.
3. rediscover old texts
4. analyze women writers and their
writing’s from a female perspective
5. to evade sexism in literature
6. to increase awareness of the sexual
politics of language and style.
Women are oppressed by
patriarchy economically,
politically, socially, and
psychologically; patriarchal
ideology is the primary means by
which they are kept so
In every domain
where patriarchy
reigns, woman is
other: she is
marginalized, defined
only by her difference
from male norms and
values
All feminist activity,
including feminist
theory and literary
criticism, has as its
ultimate goal to
change the world by
prompting gender
equality