WOMEN AS OTHER
Feminist literary theory falls into the category of SOCIETAL MIRRORS, or criticisms that reflect society (social mirrors also include Marxism, postcolonialism, queer theory, affliction theory, and ecocriticism). Societal mirrors focus on the idea of The Other, a term for a person in society with little power or agency (the ability to change their circumstances). Those with agency are known as the privileged group, as they have access to resources that The Other does not. Some members of the privileged group actively work toward this inequality, while most members of the privileged group have social blindness--they do not willfully wish to subjugate others, but because their privilege is normal, they do not perceive or understand the struggles of The Other.
In Feminism, The Other is women. Feminism relies on the idea that societies are patriarchies; the patriarchy is a term for the male-dominated power structures in society. Sometimes, the rule of the patriarchy is obvious, as in men traditionally holding positions of governing power (presidents, popes, CEOs, etc.); sometimes, the rule of the patriarchy is subtle, like the tradition of children and wives taking a father's surname instead of a mother's maiden name. These social norms were established to place men above women and to keep women out of power. As a result, men are the standard, and women are classified as "imperfect men," according to Feminist researcher Simone de Beauvoir. You can view a great summation of de Beauvoir's theories on "What is woman?" in the video below.
In Feminism, The Other is women. Feminism relies on the idea that societies are patriarchies; the patriarchy is a term for the male-dominated power structures in society. Sometimes, the rule of the patriarchy is obvious, as in men traditionally holding positions of governing power (presidents, popes, CEOs, etc.); sometimes, the rule of the patriarchy is subtle, like the tradition of children and wives taking a father's surname instead of a mother's maiden name. These social norms were established to place men above women and to keep women out of power. As a result, men are the standard, and women are classified as "imperfect men," according to Feminist researcher Simone de Beauvoir. You can view a great summation of de Beauvoir's theories on "What is woman?" in the video below.
SO WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF FEMINISM?
All feminists agree that they want to end the rule of the patriarchy, yet different groups of feminists disagree on how to subvert the patriarchy and what type of ruling class should replace the patriarchy.
- Liberal feminists want to work within the existing social system to put women into power as the equals of men. They fight to change sex-based discrimination and sexist attitudes that "women cant do X."
- Radical feminists believe the existing power structures will never truly allow women in, as the patriarchy will not want to lose power. They fight to tear down all existing social power structures and replace them with ones that are "sex-blind," where the difference between men and women is completely ignored in all facets of life.
- Separate feminists agree with the radicals feminists that the patriarchy will never let its power be taken willingly. However, their solution is that women should create a separate power system away from men, with "separate but equal" standing. They fight for women-only businesses, schools and classes, and societal spaces where men are not allowed to mirror the patriarchal spaces where women are not allowed.
MORE THAN JUST THE OUTSIDE
Oh, and not to be a essentialist, but all feminists agree on one other thing: that women are more than their bodies. In The Second Sex, de Beauvoir points out the (obvious) fact that the reason women are different from men is biological: without getting too graphic, she argues that male dominance probably started with biological mechanics related in impregnation. A man about to be a father has more agency than a woman about to be a mother, as he doesn't have a living creature growing inside of him and limiting what he does or how he moves. This difference led to men believing that this lack of agency made women inferior, and men started creating additional social myths reinforcing this idea of female inferiority, thereby creating the patriarchy.
Yet feminists fight these myths in all their forms. They reject that biology matters in realms of power and privilege, and that women can be equal to men in every way. This is why feminists reject the classification of sex (which focuses on difference in physical attributes) and focus on gender (which focuses on how society defines the difference between men and women). While male and female biology is static (as even sex reassignment surgery defaults to one set of parts or the other), gender can change over time and be redefined by society. This theory is called social constructionism. Feminists focus on breaking down barriers for both genders: while they fight for a girl who likes to hunt be considered "normal" and "feminine," they also fight for the boy who watches My Little Pony to be considered "normal" and "masculine."
They also fight against being objectified by society as nothing more than sexual objects. This fight is divisive in the feminist community. Some feminists believe that sexuality is one of their only weapons against the patriarchy and that true feminists should not be restricted to traditional patriarchal modesty. An icon for these feminists is Marilyn Monroe, who made a film career out of posing nude in magazines, wearing revealing outfits, and playing characters who used their sexuality to control and use men. Other feminist believe that a woman who uses her sexuality in such a way is giving the patriarchy exactly what they want: a woman is objectified as being no more than her physical sex appeal. These women prefer role models like Katharine Hepbern, who always played smart characters in films who demanded to be equals of men. She wore pants, swore like men, and portrayed women with traditionally male jobs like lawyer, doctor, and business owner. In her classic films like Adam's Rib, The Philadelphia Story, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, she was the one who set the terms for a relationship instead of her male counterparts. This dichotomy of how sexuality represents feminism continues today, as critics debate whether modern stars like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus are pro- or anti-feminist.
Yet feminists fight these myths in all their forms. They reject that biology matters in realms of power and privilege, and that women can be equal to men in every way. This is why feminists reject the classification of sex (which focuses on difference in physical attributes) and focus on gender (which focuses on how society defines the difference between men and women). While male and female biology is static (as even sex reassignment surgery defaults to one set of parts or the other), gender can change over time and be redefined by society. This theory is called social constructionism. Feminists focus on breaking down barriers for both genders: while they fight for a girl who likes to hunt be considered "normal" and "feminine," they also fight for the boy who watches My Little Pony to be considered "normal" and "masculine."
They also fight against being objectified by society as nothing more than sexual objects. This fight is divisive in the feminist community. Some feminists believe that sexuality is one of their only weapons against the patriarchy and that true feminists should not be restricted to traditional patriarchal modesty. An icon for these feminists is Marilyn Monroe, who made a film career out of posing nude in magazines, wearing revealing outfits, and playing characters who used their sexuality to control and use men. Other feminist believe that a woman who uses her sexuality in such a way is giving the patriarchy exactly what they want: a woman is objectified as being no more than her physical sex appeal. These women prefer role models like Katharine Hepbern, who always played smart characters in films who demanded to be equals of men. She wore pants, swore like men, and portrayed women with traditionally male jobs like lawyer, doctor, and business owner. In her classic films like Adam's Rib, The Philadelphia Story, and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?, she was the one who set the terms for a relationship instead of her male counterparts. This dichotomy of how sexuality represents feminism continues today, as critics debate whether modern stars like Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus are pro- or anti-feminist.
SO HOW DO I READ LIKE A FEMINIST?
Feminists tend to focus on (duh) female characters, their prominence in the story, and their relationships to male characters.
- A feminist looks at female characters as contributors to a story plot. How many female characters are there? Do these characters have main or secondary roles? Do we see a woman as narrator? When dialogue comes out of their mouth, do they sound like real women? A famous test of this idea for films called the Bechdel test (named after a famous comic strip by artist Allison Bedchel)--a film passing the test has two female characters who are given names and talk about something other than a man. While this sounds simple, over 90% of all films ever made fail this test, including classics like Casablanca, Jaws, Star Wars, The Godfather, and even Breakfast at Tiffany's.
- A feminist looks at the agency female characters have in the text. What choices are they allowed to make, and what choices are made for them? What myths about women do the characters believe? How do female characters struggle against these myths? Is the character allowed to act however she wants, or must she "act like a lady?" While Elizabeth Bennet in Austin's Pride and Prejudice seems like a character who has her own agency by rejecting her mother's push for a marriage, she still attends the balls and goes through the motions of courtship, diminishing her agency. On the flip side, some female characters have too much agency and are utterly unrealistic. These characters, called Mary Sues, have the ability to do anything without struggle and are anti-feminist because they perpetuate the idea that women do not need to struggle or fight against problems.
- A feminist looks at how men treat women and how women treat men. Do women get a say in their relationships? Are women completely defined by their relationships? Are women only in the story as damsels in distress or prizes to be won? Myths and their modern cousin, superhero stories, are especially guilty of including women only to motivate men. In fact, there is a term for women who only exist to motivate a character: women in refrigerators (named after when Green Lantern gave the titular hero a girlfriend only to have her die--stuffed into a refrigerator--to test the will of the male hero).
- Speaking of comics, a feminist also looks at how the text is received by male and female readers. Can women relate to the text and female characters? Do men react in a positive or negative way to the female characters? Are female authors given the same respect and acknowledgement as male authors? Comics, historically, have been bad at all of this. alienated women because of the few female heroes with their own comics (and those who did have comics, like Supergirl and Batgirl, were just "imperfect female versions" of male heroes). Comics are also often guilty of treating women as sexual objects, focusing on giving female heroes skimpy costumes and large breasts over deep character development and complex histories. In 2010, for example, outrage started after DC Comics gave Wonder Woman pants and boots instead of spandex and high heels; fans and critics actively fought to keep Wonder Woman in a more sexually suggestive costume. Comic publishers also didn't allow women to create comics until the 1950s, and even then, they were only allowed to write romance comics. Modern comics publishers have worked to try to right these wrongs by creating more female characters, dropping the sexual emphasis in artwork and design, and by trying to hire more female writers and artists. Similarly, the literary canon has sought to include more female authors in books taught and read in schools and colleges.
THE BREAKDOWN
- Feminism focuses on the struggles of women as "other" against a ruling patriarchy
- Look for how a character has to struggle just because she is a women
- Look for women who only exist as a "prize" or "foil" for men
- Look for women who fight for or against the patriarchy
- Look to see if a woman ever expresses her wants, desires, or perspective
- Look to see if female characters actually sound like real women
- Look at the gender of the author and how it affects the text
- Look at how men and women react to the text
GREAT TEXTS TO READ FROM A FEMINIST LENS
- Lysistrata by Aristophanes
- Antigone by Sophocles
- The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
- The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
- The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Emma by Jane Austin
- Hope Leslie by Catherine Maria Sedgewick
- The Awakening by Kate Chopin
- "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gillman
- To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
- The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
- To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
- Y: The Last Man by Brian K Vaughn and Pia Guerra
FURTHER CRITICAL READING
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