Feminist Criticism

1
Feminist Criticism

• Literary Theory

2
Feminist Criticism

• 1960s 1st focused on negative female
  stereotypes in books authored by men and points
  to alternative feminine characteristics suggested
  by women authors
• Moved towards societal mechanisms that perpetuate
  male domination over women

3
Feminist Criticism

• Currently
• 1st part is concerned with the reader woman as
  the consumer of male literature and with the way
  she creates meaning from the text
• Including images and stereotypes of women,
  omissions and misconceptions about women, and
  roles of women in a male authors work
• 2nd part is concerned with the woman as the
  writer with woman as the producer of the
  textual meaning, with the history, themes, genres
  and structures of literature.

4
Feminist Criticism

• List phrases - that are school appropriate - that
  may impact women negatively
• Youre a sissy!
• You play like a girl!
• Hey, guys. (Talking to a mixed group)
• He as a reference to both male and female
• Female names for cars, boats, planes, etc. or
  simply she

5
Feminist Criticism

• Looking through the feminist lens
• Write a statement about the following situations
  from a feminist perspective
• Mount Rushmore
• The Miss America Pageant
• Coverage of womens sports
• Office of the President of the United States
• Major network news anchors

6
Feminist Criticism

• Applying the Feminist Lens
• Apply by closely examining the portrayal of the
  characters, both female and male, the language of
  the text, the attitude of the author, and the
  relationship between the characters.
• Also look at what the author is saying about
  society as a whole.

7
Feminist Criticism

• Feminist Theory and The Yellow Wallpaper
• Read The Yellow Wallpaper pg 766.
• In groups answer the questions on the study
  guide.
• Class discussion
• Assignment

8
Feminist Criticism

• Feminist Theory and The Yellow Wallpaper
• In your discussion groups, write a brief analysis
  (paragraph) using the feminist lens and a 2nd
  paragraph discussing Perkins Gilmans purpose in
  writing the piece. Consider the audience.

9
Homework

• Pay attention to the situations in your life and
  perhaps the situations you view on television.
  Pick one of these situations and describe it as
  you normally would with a journal writing
  (Assignment 1). Next, apply the feminist lens to
  the situation and write an extended paragraph
  analyzing the situation (Assignment 2).