Feminist Analysis

• Feminist Analysis

  Feminist criticism focuses on notions of gender, as well as power relations, particularly the unequal power relations between men and women.
• Feminist analysis

  • Feminist criticism is based on ideas from the feminist movement which began to gain momentum in the course of the 1960s.
  • Like Marxism, it focuses on power relations, particularly the unequal power relations between men and women.
  • It examines notions of gender, and the extent to which ideas of what constitute masculinity or femininity have been constructed.
• 1. Stereotypes

  • The following ideas are central tenets of feminist thinking:

  1. Literature reflects, and helps to perpetuate, the negative stereotyping of women.

  • Women are stereotyped from a male point of view in ‘positive’ ways such as the “self-sacrificing angel” or in ‘negative’ ways such as the “dangerous seductress”.
  • These stereotypes promote the idea that female behaviour should be more passive and powerless, preventing equality between the sexes.
  • Feminist criticism often looks to challenge these stereotypes.
• 1. Cultural constructions
  2. Gender roles have little to do with how females (and males) really are, but with the way that society sees them - how they are culturally constructed.

  • The notion of women being naturally “timid”, or “helpless” is to construct a role for them.
  • Likewise, masculinity, with its connotations of strength and control is also a construction.
  • Feminist criticism often looks to challenge the assumptions that lead to these constructed (artificial) ideas of how men and women ‘should’ behave.
• 1. Reinforcement
  2. Texts, even those written by women, often reflect and reinforce patriarchal authority (a society in which men hold the power).

  • Women are often portrayed as “the other” in texts, whereas men are seen as the “norm”.
  • This can often be seen in the language and imagery used to describe male and female characters, language which perpetuates false assumptions about gender.
• Separation

  • The private world of a character cannot be separated from the political.
  • Even in our domestic lives, power relations help to determine how we act.