CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL

FRAMEWORK

2.1. Feminist Approach

In literary, feminist approach is often known as feminist literary criticism.

According to Djajanegara (2000) feminist literary criticism originates from the desire

of feminists to teach the work of a woman in the past and to show the image of a

woman in the work of a male writer who presents women as creatures who are

variously suppressed, misinterpreted and underestimated by the dominant tradition.

Feminist literary criticism which is a variety literary criticism based on the

thought of feminism wants the existence of justice in looking at existence women,

both as writers and in their literary works. By focusing on the analysis and assessment

of female writers and how women are portrayed in literature, in relation to men and

its community environment, feminist literary criticism includes literary criticism that

combines various perspectives of literary criticism mapped by Abrams (1999)

especially expressive (female writer), mimetic (how women are portrayed in works

literature, in relation to men and the environment society), and the theory of

feminism.
 The feminist literary criticism of today is the direct product of the ‘women’s

movement’ of the 1960s. This movement was, in important ways, literary from the

start, in the sense that it realized the significance of the images of women

promulgated by literature, and saw it as vital to combat them and question their

authority and their coherence. In this sense the women’s movement has always been

crucially concerned with books and literature, so that feminist criticism should not be

seen as an off-shoot or a spin-off from feminism which is remote from the ultimate

aims of the movement, but as one of its most practical ways of influencing everyday

conduct and attitudes.

Thus, in feminist criticism in the 1960s the major effort went into exposing

what might be called the mechanisms of patriarchy, that is the cultural ‘mind-set’ in

men and women which perpetuated sexual inequality. Then, in the 1980s, in

feminism as in other critical approaches, the mood change. Firstly, feminist criticism

became much more eclectic, meaning that it began to draw upon the findings and

approaches of other kinds of criticism – Marxism, structuralism, linguistics and so on.

Secondly, it switched its focus from attacking male versions of the world to exploring

the nature of the female world and outlook and reconstructing the lost or suppressed

records of female experience. Thirdly, attention was switched to the need to construct

a new canon of women’s writing by rewriting the history of the novel and of poetry in

such a way that neglected women writers were given new prominence.
 It is the result of the view that feminist criticism required a terminology if it

was to attain theoretical respectability. More importantly, there is a great need, in all

intellectual disciplines, to establish a sense of progress, enabling early and cruder

examples of feminist criticism to be given their rightful credit and acknowledgement

while at the same time making it clear that the approach they represent is no longer

generally regarded as a model for practice. Therefore, the main objective of feminist

literary criticism is to analyze gender relations, the relationship between women and

men who are socially constructed, which among others illustrates the situation when

women are in male domination Nicholson (1990).

According to Humm (1986) through feminist literary criticism it will be

described as being oppression of women in the work literature. Humm (1986) also

states that literary history writing before the rise of literary criticism feminist,

constructed by male fiction. Therefore, criticism feminist literature reconstructs and

re-reads these works focus on women, nature sociolinguistics, describing women's

writing with special attention to the use of words in their writing. In other words, the

feminist critics do examine representations of women in literature by men and

women, examine power relations which obtain in texts and in life, with a view to

breaking them down, seeing reading as a political act and showing the extent of

patriarchy and also raise the question of whether men and women are essentially

different because of biology or are socially constructed as different.

 There are a variety of feminist literary criticisms. Showalter (1985)

distinguishes between two types of feminist literary criticism, namely: 1) feminist

literary criticism which sees women as readers (the woman as reader / feminist

critique), and 2) feminist literary criticism who see women as writers (the woman as

writer / gynocritics).

Showalter (1985) stated feminist literary criticism of the woman as reader

focuses on the study of the image and stereotype of women in literature, ignorance

and misunderstanding of women in previous criticisms, and gaps in the history of

literature formed by men. The criticisms of gynocritics feminist literature examine the

history of women's literature (women as writers), writing style, themes, genres,

women's writing structure, female writer's creativity, women's writing profession as a

society, and the development and regulation of women's writers.

From the explanation above, this research used feminist literary criticism of

the flow of women as readers which focuses on studying the stereotypes of women in

literature. This aim of this research is to understand about objectification of women in

“Memoirs of Geisha” novel especially in sexual objectification and self-

objectification. For discussing this two specific issued the theory from Fredrickson

and Robert on sexual objectification and self-objectification is applied. The theory is

discussed in the following subchapter.

2.2. Theory of Objectification
Woman objectification is already existed since long time ago, without even

women noticed it, since they are surrounded by objectification. Fredrickson &

Roberts (1997) stated that many women are sexually objectified and treated as objects

that are judged based on their usefulness to others and often unconsciously contribute

to placing women's bodies as mere objects, separating them from the integrity of

women with their identities. The construction of a woman's body by the community

or someone outside her eventually becomes control of women, towards her selfhood.

Mckay (2013) explained that gender roles defined women behavior to act and

respond in certain ways which in means that women’s role should be below or being

subordinate under men control. While men are being masculine and superior to

women, women tend to be more feminine which means to be weak, nurturance and

obedient. Therefore, society tends to treated women as an object to be suppressed

because of their powerlessness. This kind of stereotype is becoming the basic issue to

construct the attributes of men and women.

The truth is women stereotype somehow leads to the existence of sexual

objectification toward them. Women physical appearances might be considered as

attractive for men. Fredrickson & Roberts (1997) showed that sexual objectification

towards women depends on women’s races, age, ethnicity, class, and other physical

appearances. However, this can lead to a serious problem for women. It seems that

the more women being objectified, the more women start to see themselves in the
way men seeing them. The effect of objectification will continue growth inside

women’s life. The effect is known as a self-objectification. According to Fredrickson

& Roberts (1997) self-objectification is a condition where women will start to treat

themselves as an object and it gives women serious psychological condition. The

psychological condition is influenced by the negative feeling about body monitoring,

which can cause a feeling of anxiety including body shaming.

2.2.1. Sexual Objectification
The concept of sexual objectification, or specifically, objectification of

women, is an important idea in feminist theory. Most feminists view sexual

objectification as a disgrace, and are a factor that plays an important role in gender

inequality. In particular, the position of women as sexual objects in novels has led to

many discussions. The researcher took theoretical approaches that are considered

relevant to understanding the objectification of women. The researcher based his

Objectification Theory from Fredrickson & Robert. Fredrickson & Roberts (1997)

stated women internalize objectified messages and treat themselves as objects to be

seen and evaluated based on false attributes (not competency-based attributes).

Objective theory is based on cultural practices that express women sexually, which

spread in westernized societies and make opportunities for women's bodies to be

exhibited in public. Most studies note that women are subjected to being sexually

treated in their daily lives more than men.

Objective theory articulates various ways in which sexual objectification can

be realized in daily life. Sexual objectification refers to the fragmentation of women

as part of something that is sexual or functioning, so that women are only viewed

from the physical side, apart from their personalities. This sexual objectification of

course occurs outside the personal control of the woman. Sexual objectification of the

novel is considered sexual disclosure when highlighting the body or parts of a

woman's body, especially when describing them as targets of a man's gaze.

big Women as objects in the novel tell about themselves being the object of

spectacle for men. The subject tells the object and confirms his position as a geisha,

dancer and entertainer. This is interesting as the subject of women in the lyrics has

emphasized his position as a male entertainer with certain skills. The mass media has

a role in making people accustomed to seeing women as objects through

advertisements, pornographic content, and mass media. Women are often "sold" and

their images are formed in such a way as to attract public attention. In fact, a book

published in the Psychology of Women Quarterly shows that exposure to content that

objectifies women will increase the tendency of men to abuse women.

According to Fredrickson and Robert (1997) aspects of self-objectification

include the attitude of prioritizing the role of aspects of physical appearance rather

than aspects of physical competence, which are explained as follows:

The aspect of evaluating external physical appearance consists of:

a. Body weight

Body weight is the body's relative mass which creates a gravitational force that

indicates the weight of an individual. The ideal individual body weight is not fat.

b. Sexual attraction
Sexual attraction is an individual attraction through all the strengths it has to be

sexually attractive because of it style and charm like wearing clothes that can cover

up deficiencies in the body, maintain body odor, and wear cosmetics on the face.

c. Physical attraction

Physical attractiveness is the extent to which an individual's physical characteristics

are considered pleasant, beautiful, and beautiful, such as brilliant skin color and a

youthful looking appearance.

d. Muscle tightness

Muscle tightness describes the condition of a tight muscle shape, does not have

excessive fat accumulation, and the muscles do not look sagging.

e. Body size

Body size is a method for determining the number, capacity, and dimensions of

individual body parts. Self-objectification is shown as a small and slim body size.

2.2.2. Self-objectification

Self-objectification theory addresses women's bodies in a sociocultural

context. This theory was developed initially by Fredrickson and Roberts (1997)

aimed at looking at and understanding the facts and consequences psychologically

and the mental health risks that occur due to self-objectification. Self-objectification
is one form of gender pressure, in this case it often occurs in women. This form of

pressure in this case is referred to as objectification practice, which occurs when the

body, organs, and sexual functions of individuals are separated from the individual

and are seen as an object. In the process of self-objectification, individuals are treated

as mere bodies. According to Fredrickson and Roberts (1997), objectification

practices can occur in various forms, namely in the form of sexual evaluations to acts

of sexual violence. Objective practices in the form of sexual evaluations can occur in

daily life and mass media such as films, advertisements, television programs,

magazines, and others.

The results of the study on self-objectification explained that women's bodies

are more often objects of self-objectification than men's bodies. The development of

self-objectification is increasingly widespread in the community and forms a culture

of objectification. This objectification culture places and informs women and society

to see, evaluate, and treat women's bodies as objects. Self-objectification arises after

the process of internalizing the perspective used by the social environment towards

individuals, especially women. Women will see themselves as objects to be assessed

and evaluated by other individuals.

This self-objectification is then predicted to bring some consequences to

women who have self-objectification. Fredrickson & Roberts (1997) explain the

psychological consequences of self-objectification in the form of feeling

embarrassed, anxious, feeling insecure, and decreasing sensitivity to internal body. In

addition, these psychological consequences will lead to mental health consequences

such as eating disorders, depression, and sexual dysfunction.

Fredrickson & Roberts (1997) stated the characteristics of individuals who

have self-objectification are the habit of always being vigilant and watching over

their physical appearance. Therefore, self-objectification is the attitude of prioritizing

the role of body parts that are easily visible (physical appearance) rather than the role

of body parts that are not easily visible (physical competence) to determine self-

quality. The aspects of physical appearance in question are physical attractiveness,

sexual attraction, body size, weight, and muscle tightness.

Furthermore, Fredrickson and Roberts (1997) explain that each individual will

give different responses to the objectification culture. The response is influenced by

age, ethnicity, gender role, and personality of each individual. Therefore, it can be

said that self-objectification may not be owned by all individuals and at some level,

the objectification of one individual to another can be different.

Factors that influence self-objectification, there are:

a) In interpersonal and social relationships, which shows that:

1. Women are more numerous and often feel observed, evaluated, and judged by

the social environment and partner.

2. Men often observe, assess, and evaluate and look at women who walk on the

highway or in public places.

 3. When other people observe women, they are often accompanied by comments

that assess the woman's body.

b) In various media that describe interpersonal and social relationships.

Fredrickson & Roberts (1997) stated advertisements that aired on television or

print media often depicted men who were watching a woman from a distance

and imagined her.

c) In visual media that highlight women's bodies. Visual media highlights the

body of women, which is one example of the form of objectification not only

seen in terms of pornography, but also now increasingly shown as in films,

some works of art, mass media advertisements, several television programs,

music video clips, magazines and photos Sports. Fredrickson & Roberts

(1997) print media and works of art also show photos of men who tend to

emphasize detail on the face and head, while women's photos tend to be

shown with details emphasized on certain body parts, sometimes even without

head or face. This shows that women's bodies are often targeted by sexual

objectification.

According to Fredrickson and Roberts (1997), objectification culture is

formed to treat women as objects that are seen, observed, assessed, and evaluated by

their appearance to physically persuade women to adopt other people's perspectives

on the body. Therefore, many women adopt other people's views on their bodies. The
process of adopting other people's views on one's own body is called the

internalization process.

Based on the explanation above, it can be concluded that self-objectification is

influenced by various forms of objectified culture in the form of observation,

assessment, and evaluation of women's bodies, especially in the form of comments,

eye glances, and vocation. Objective culture takes place in a variety of situations,

such as interpersonal and social relations as well as print and visual media that

highlight the body of a woman and make the female body the target of assessment. In

addition, self-objectification is also influenced by the needs of individuals to

internalize the objectification culture.

2.3. Previous Research

In this part, the researcher discusses about the previous researches which

related with this thesis. The researcher has found three journals which is related to

this thesis. The first research is from Gao (2014) entitled “An Analysis of Feminism

in Reflected in the Film the French Lieutenant’s Woman”. In his research, he

concerns on the feminism reflected of analyzing film. It is about a love story that

happened in England in nineteenth Century. Sarah, a woeful and mysterious woman

in Victorian era, a virgin but claimed to have committed to a French lieutenant. This
study different with this research because in this research the researcher takes the data

in a film. The result showed from his research that Sarah was not a completely

feminist heroine. Therefore, the director was not entirely successful with regard to

create a woman image of freedom and independence. This study used descriptive

qualitative.

The second research is from Thakor (2011) entitled “Feminist persepectives in

the novel Yajnaseni of PratibhaRai”. In his research, Thakor concerns on feminist

perspectives. The analysis has shown that reveals the social injustice done to

Draupadi, one of the five satis and a well-known mythological character who is often

insulted as one with five husbands and hence implied to be a woman of loose

character. This study also used descriptive qualitative design.

The third research is from Dedi (2017) entitled “An Analysis of the in

Characters in Kate Chopin’s “the awakening”. In his research, he concerns onto

describe the feminist characters of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening short stories by

analyzing the main female characters as feminist characters and the contribution of

the feminist characters to the development of the plot. The finding of this research

showed that from the existed in Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, feminist character is

Edna Pontellier. The design of the research is a descriptive design.

The fourth research is from Septa (2016) entitled “An Analysis of Perempuan

Berkalung Sorban Novel: Feminist Perspective”. In her research, she concerns on

feminism and know the groups of feminism in Perempuan Berkalung Sorban novel.
This research was qualitative descriptive research method. The results shows that the

feminism in Perempuan Berkalung Sorban novel describe a woman’ struggle in

getting her existence and rights as a independent human being, and also this novel

contents liberal feminism and radical feminism.

The fifth research is from Suaidi (2016) entitled ”An analysis of feminism in

Pride and Prejudice Novel”. This study contains two problems formulation to be

analyzed. The first is about issues of feminism are reflected in the Pride and Prejudice

novel and the second is the dominant roles of women deserted in the Pride and

Prejudice novel. In his research, the result shows the researcher found in the Pride

and Prejudice novel. It can be seen from the sociological approach. Here, the position

of women in terms of inheritance is weak. They do not have the right to inheritance.

Inheritance is lead to discrimination between men and women. The research design of

this study is descriptive qualitative method because beside the data are taken from the

novel (primary data), the researcher also use secondary data (theories, explanation,

different news form about feminism). These secondary data are used to support the

result of analysis of the primary data.

Based on these five previous researches, it can be seen that there is similarity

between this research with the previous research above. The similarity is the object of

this research is about feminist and the research design of study is descriptive

qualitative method. This research also has difference with the previous researches

above, the difference is this research concerns on sexual objectification and self-
objectification while the previous researches just concerns on feminism perspectives.

The data source is also different from these three researches which this research uses

Memoirs of Geisha Novel as the data. It means that the result of this research is also

different from the previous researches above.

2.4. Theoretical Framework

MEMOIRS OF GEISHA NOVEL

BY ARTHUR GOLDEN

Feminist Approach

Women Objectification of
women
 Sexual objectification Self-objectification

(Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997) (Fredrickson& Roberts, 1997)

Figure 2.1 Theoretical Framework

As seen in figure above, in this research firstly explain about the novel
entitled “Memoirs of a Geisha” by Arthur Golden. After that, the researcher
concerns on feminist as approach. Next, explain about the object of data is the
objectification of women in Memoirs of a Geisha. Then, analyze of
objectification women based on theory proposed by Fredrickson and Roberts
(1997).