Present – day

Feminist
Criticisms
 • Anglo – American
Some scholars Feminisms
categorize • Poststructuralist
feminist Feminisms
criticism into • Materialist
four groups: Feminisms
• Postmodern
Feminisms
 • Amazon feminism
Feminist • Cultural feminism
Criticism • Ecofeminism
Subcategories • Material feminism
• Separatism
• Postcolonial
feminism
 Amazon • Dedicated to female
images – either fictional or
real – in literature and art
feminism that emphasize that
physiques of female
athletes and physical
equality both males and
females.
 • Radical feminism
Cultural • Asserts that personality
and biological differences
feminism exist between men and
women
• Women are “kinder and
gentler”
 • Eco – feminism

Ecofemini • Assumes that patriarchal

societies are relatively

sm
new and that society’s
original condition was
matriarchal.
 • Aims to improve the
material condition of
women by unburdening

Material them of “traditional”

female task such as
housework, cooking,
feminism ironing clothes, and other
domestic responsibilities.
 • Assume that women must
first see themselves in a
different context –

Separatist separating themselves

from men, at least for a
while – before they can
feminism discover who are they as
individual.
 • Third – world feminism
• Rejects phallocentric,
Postcoloni patriarchal system
established by white

al males and recognizes that

it is engaged in a political
and social struggle against
feminism male dominance.
 • Women are oppressed by
patriarchy economically,
politically, socially, and
psychologically
Assumptions • In every domain where
patriarchy reigns, woman is
other
• All of western civilization is
deeply rooted in patriarchal
ideology
• All feminist activity, including
feminist theory and literary
criticism, has as its ultimate
goal to change the world by
prompting gender equality
 • Some feminist critics
debunk male superiority
Methodology by exposing stereotypes
of women in all literary
period.
• Other feminist critics
rereads canonical works
of male authors from
female point of view.
 • Some feminist critics use the
Methodology methodologies of philosophy
and psychoanalysis to
overturn patriarchy with its
accompanying
phallocentrism.
 • Critics such as Monique Wittig
and Helene Cixous propose a
completely new,
Methodology nonphallocentric discourse.

Lesbianization of language (Monique Wittig)

Process of experimenting and hoping
to eliminate pronouns or nouns that
reflect gender.
L’ecriture feminine (Helene Cixous )
Creation of female language
References:
• https://literariness.org/2016/06/05/anglo-american-and-french-femin
isms/
• https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/encyc-of-case-study-researc
h/n262.xml

• https://www.slideshare.net/jordanlachance/ewrt-1-c-class-10-474594
55

• https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2020/0219/1116323-ecofeminism/
• Literary Criticism An Introduction to Theory and Paractice.pdf 5th
Edition