Pizza rolls not gender roles Key Terms Patriarchy maledominated power structures Misogyny hatred of women Genderrole stereotyping a series of norms and behaviors based on gender ID: 548557
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Slide1
Feminist Criticism
Pizza rolls, not gender roles!Slide2Slide3
Key Terms
Patriarchy
– male-dominated power structures
Misogyny
– hatred of women
Gender-role stereotyping – a series of norms and behaviors based on genderSlide4
Questions for the Feminist Critic
How does the portrayal of women in so-called classic literature (
the canon
) illustrate a patriarchal ideology?
How are women
stereotyped? What female authors have been ignored or
marginalized
by the patriarchy?
How do texts written by women
subvert
a patriarchal social order?Slide5
Basic Tenets of Feminist Criticism
Feminist literary criticism is a product of the 1960s feminist movement and concerns itself with the representation of women in literary canon (works typically written by men) as an expression of the
social norms
governing women.
In every domain where patriarchy reigns (economic, social, political, psychological), woman is marginalized.
Judeo-Christian western civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology, beginning with the biblical portrayal of Adam and
Eve
.Slide6
Polarization of the Female
Good (spiritual)
Serve the Interest of the Hero
Virgin
Wife
Mother
Angel
Soul Mate
Goddess
Evil (material)
Foil the Hero
Whore
Spinster
Barren
Temptress
Madwoman
(rhymes with?) WitchSlide7
Feminism and Language
The existent language in literature is male-centered (
phallocentric
) language.
Female language is considered intellectually inferior,
emotional
, and
irrational
.
The patriarchy feels threatened by female discourse.
Women must choose between adopting the male-dominated discourse or remaining
silent
.Slide8
Misogyny in Vocabulary
Dictionary Definition
hysteria
:
a psychoneurosis marked by emotional excitability and disturbances of the psychic, sensory, vasomotor, and visceral functions
Word Etymology
hysteria
(adj.) 1610s, "characteristic of hysteria," from Latin
hystericus
"
of the womb
," from Greek
hysterikos
"of the womb, suffering in the womb," from
hystera
"womb" (see hysteria). Originally defined as a neurotic condition peculiar to women and thought to be caused by a dysfunction of the uterus. With abstract noun
ending -
ia.
General sense of "unhealthy emotion or excitement" is by 1839. Slide9
Woman = WeaknessSlide10
Wedding = worthSlide11
Binary Language
Masculine
Father
Sun
Head
Action
Reason
Light
Anger
Feminine
Mother
Moon
Heart
Passivity
Emotion
Dark
MadnessSlide12Slide13
Voice
Acknowledging women’s language and contribution to the western literary canon restores the female
voice
.Slide14
Remember Philomela
“A life of feminine submission, of 'contemplative purity,'
is a
life of silence, a life that has no pen and no story, while a life of female rebellion, of 'significant action,' is a life that must be silenced, a life whose monstrous pen tells a terrible story.”
― Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan
Gubar
,
The Madwoman in the Attic: The Woman Writer and the Nineteenth-Century Literary Imagination