FEMINISM
Feminism is the belief in full social, economic and
political equality for women. Numerous
feminist movements and ideologies have developed over years and represented
different viewpoints and aims since 19th century. Charles Fourier, a French philosopher is
credited with having coined the word ‘feminism’ in 1837. Depending on the historical movement, culture
and country, feminists around the world have different causes and goals. However, the feminist movements are divided
into four ‘waves’ and through these movements won right to vote, legal and
social equality, individuality and diversity and fight against violence against
women now through ‘me too’ movement.
The woman’s movement of the 1960 greatly influenced by
Virginia Woolf’s ‘A room of one’s own (1929)’ and Simone de Beauvoir’s ‘The
Second sex (1949)’. The feminist
literary criticism of today is the direct product of the ‘women’s movement’ of
the 1960s. The representation of women
in Literature was felt to be one of the most important forms of ‘Socialization’
and ‘Conditioning’. In 1970s Elaine
Showalter coined ‘gynocriticism’. She
defined it as ‘the history, styles, themes, genres and structure of writing by
women, the Psychodynamics of female creativity; the trajectory of the
individual or collective female career; and the evolution or laws of a female
literary tradition’.
However, there are divisions within feminism on its aims,
goals methods, theories and inspirations apart from the waves of it. The ‘Cultural feminism’ believes that the
contributions of ‘female culture’ such as child care, domestic work etc have
been disregarded and greatly devalued in society as the social systems have
evolved with ‘Male culture’. Liberal
feminism stresses the importance of gender norms and gender socialization in
the society. Similarly Marxist feminism
too argues for gender equality. Radical
feminism focuses on the violence that women suffer and fights against gender related
violence. Ecofeminism believes that it is the patriarchal system that causes
the oppression of both women and the environmental. The men in power are able to take advantage
of both women and the environment because they see them passive and
helpless. Post colonial feminism that
emerged in the third world countries believe that they have to work for gender
equality within the logic of their own cultural models. Post-modern feminism believes that there is
not one unique absolute definition for gender.
So, there is no single basis for women’s subordination and no single
method of dealing with the issues.
Apart from this, Showalter has also detected in the history
of women’s writing a feminine phase that covers 1840-1880, in which women
writers imitated dominant male artistic norms and aesthetic standards. Another feminist phase in between 1880 and
1920, in which, radical and often separatist positions are maintained. Finally, a female phase that from 1920s that
looked particularly at female writing and female experience. Yet another issue was also there concerning the
existence of a language that is inherently feminine. According to Virginia Woolf, as the language
use is gendered, when a woman turns to novel writing, she finds that there is
‘no common sentence ready for her use’.
She quotes many sentences from Charlotte Bronte and George Eliot. But, Jane Austen rejected it and instead
‘devised a perfectly natural, shapely sentence proper for her own use. However, Elaine Showalter in her essay,
‘Towards a feminist poetics’ advocates a new way of reading. She stresses that women should turn to female
experience as the source of an autonomous art.
The feminist criticism, free from the divided consciousness of
‘daughters’ and ‘sisters’ is to be made a permanent home.
Feminist criticism can be divided into two varieties. The first one is concerned with woman as a
reader of male produced literature. It
is a historical grounded enquiry. Its
subjects include the images and the stereotypes of women in literature, the omissions
and misconceptions about women in criticism and the exploitation and
manipulation of the female audience in popular culture and film. The second type is concerned with women as a
writer. That is with woman as the
producer of literature. Its subjects
include the Psychodynamics of female creativity linguistics and the problems of
female language. This Gynocriticism is a
type of criticism designed by feminists to evaluate works by women as feminist
works. It takes into consideration the
circumstances in which a work of art is produced, the point of view of the
author, and the motivation and attitudes of the characters. One of the problems of feminist critique is
that it is male-oriented. If we study
the stereotypes of women and the limited roles play in literary history, we are
trying to learn what not women have felt and experienced, but only what men
have thought women should be. So, the
task of feminist critics is to find a new language, a new way of reading that
can integrate women’s intelligence and experience, their reason and their
suffering. This enterprise should not be
confined to women. Women are not only
the daughters and sisters of men but also their teachers, publishers and many
others. So, all women who are also
critics, poets and philosophers should also share it with them. So, as Showalter says feminist criticism is
not simply a visiting criticism, it is here to stay.
-----------Thulasidharan V
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