Prepared By: Sayed Aamir Ali Bacha

BS-English (Morning) 7th-C

NUML, Islamabad

Feminism
Historical development:
According to feminist criticism, the roots of prejudice (partiality) against women have long been rooted
in Western culture. The ancient Greeks supported gender discrimination, declaring the male to be the
superior and the female the inferior. In the centuries that follow, other philosophers and scientists
continue such gender discrimination. For example, in “The Descent of Man” (1871), Charles Darwin
announces that women are a “characteristic of... a past and lower state of civilization”.

1. Some scholars believe that the first major work of feminist criticism challenging these male voices was
of Christine de Pizan in the 14 th century, “L'Epistre au Dieu d'amours” (1399). In this work, Pizan
critiques Jean de Meun's biased representation of the nature of woman in his text “Roman de la Rose”.
In another work, “Le Livre de la Cite des Dames” (1405), Pizan declares that “God created both man and
woman as equal beings”.

2. Another such voice was that of Aphra Behn in the 17th century. Behn often recognized as the first
English professional female writer. She was one of the most prolific dramatists, poets, and novelists of
the Restoration age. According to the twentieth-century feminist Virginia Woolf, “All women together,
ought to let flowers fall upon the grave of Aphra Behn for it was she who earned them the right to speak
their minds”. Unlike most writers of her time, Behn used her fiction to bring to the forefront and analyze
women’s sexual desires directed toward both males and females. Today her words provide scholars and
many others to scrutinize (analyze) what it means to be human.

3. In the late 1700s, another powerful, artistic female voice arose; Mary Wollstonecraft. Her work “A
Vindication of the Rights of Woman” (1792), the first major published work that acknowledges an
awareness of women’s struggles for equal rights. According to Wollstonecraft, women must define for
themselves what it means to be a woman. They themselves must take the lead and articulate who they
are and what role they will play in society.

1. Virginia Woolf – “A Room of One’s Own” (1929) – “Room”

In 1919 the British scholar and teacher Virginia Woolf developed Wollstonecraft's ideas, laying the
foundation for present day feminist criticism in her powerful work “A Room of One's Own” (1929).
1. Same Characteristics:

Agreeing with Samuel T. Coleridge, she asserts that great minds possess both male and female
characteristics by giving the example of Shakespeare's sister, who is equally as gifted as Shakespeare but
her sex prevents her from having “a room of her own”.

2. Free from Economic Constraint:

If women cannot economically afford a room of her own, her innate artistic talents will never flourish.
Being able to afford her own room would symbolize the solitude and autonomy needed to seclude
herself from the world and its social constraints to find time to think and write.

3. Women’s Identity:

Women must reject the social construct of femaleness and establish and define for themselves their
own identity.

2. Simone de Beauvoir – The Second Sex (1949) – “The Other”

After World War II and the 1949 publication of “The Second Sex” by the French writer Simone de
Beauvoir, feminist concerns once again are heard.

1. Beauvoir’s text asserts that French society (and Western societies in general) are patriarchal,
controlled by males. Beauvoir believes that women must break the bonds of their patriarchal society
and define themselves if they wish to become a significant human being in their own right.

2. Beauvoir believes that the male defines what it means to be human, including what it means to be
female. Since the female is not male, she becomes the ‘Other’. Beauvoir insists that women must see
themselves as autonomous beings and accordingly, they must define themselves, clear their own social
constructs of what it means to be a woman, and reject being labeled as the ‘Other’.

3. Women must ask themselves, “What is a woman?” but Beauvoir insists that a woman's answer must
not be “mankind”, because it will once again allow males to define women.

3. Kate Millett – Sexual Politics (1970) – “Social Construct”

With Millett's publication of “Sexual Politics” in 1970, a new wave of feminism begins. Millett is one of
the first to challenge the ideological characteristics of both the male and the female.

1. She asserts that a female is born but a woman is created. In other words, one’s sex is determined at
birth, but one’s gender is a social construct created by cultural norms.
2. Consciously or unconsciously, women and men conform to the societal constructs established by
society. Boys, for example, should be aggressive, self-assertive, and dominant, whereas girls should be
passive, modest, and humble. Such cultural expectations are transmitted through media, including
television, movies, songs, and literature. Conforming to these prescribed sex roles dictated by society is
what Millett calls sexual politics or the operations of power relations in society.

4. Elaine Showalter (1970s)

A leading voice of feminist criticism throughout the late 1970s and through the next several decades is
that of Elaine Showalter. In “A Literature of Their Own British Women Novelists from Bronte to
Lessing” (1977), Showalter discusses three historical phases of female writing.

i. The feminine phase (1840-1880)

ii. The feminist phase (1880-1920)

iii. The female phase (1920-present)

i. The feminine phase (1840-1880)

During the “feminine phase”, writers such as Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, and George Sand accepted
the prevailing social constructs and wrote under male pennames so that their works would first be
published and then recognized.

ii. The feminist phase (1880-1920)

During the “feminist phase”, female writers depicted the harsh and often cruel treatment of female
characters at the hands of male characters.

iii. The female phase (1920-present)

During the “female phase”, female writers have rejected both the feminine social constructs prominent
during the “feminine phase” and the secondary or minor position of female characters in the “feminist
phase”.
Gynocriticism:
Showalter believes that female writers were deliberately excluded from the literary canon by male
professors who first established the canon itself. Such exclusion, according to Showalter, must cease. In
her influential essay “Toward a Feminist Poetics” (1997), Showalter asserts that;

“Feminist theorists must construct a female framework for analysis of women’s literature to develop
new models based on the study of female experience, rather than to adapt to male models and
theories.”

A process she names gynocriticism. Through gynocriticism, Showalter exposes the false cultural
assumptions and characteristics of women as depicted in canonical literature. Showalter coins the word
gynocritics- a classification she gives to those critics who “construct a female framework for the analysis
of women’s literature, to develop new models based on the study of female experience, rather than to
adapt to male models and theories”.

Four Models:
Gynocritics and gynocriticism provide us with four models that address the nature of women’s writing.

1. The biological model:

This model emphasizes how the female body marks itself on a text by providing a host of literary images
along with a personal, intimate tone.

2. The linguistic model:

This model addresses the need for a female discourse, investigating the differences between how
women and men use language. This model asserts that women create and write in a language different
to their gender and addresses the ways in which this female language can be used in their writings.

3. The psychoanalytic model:

This model analyzes the female psyche and demonstrates how such an analysis affects the writing
process, emphasizing the flux and fluidity of female writing as opposed to male writing’s rigidity and
structure.

4. The cultural model:

This model investigates how society shapes women’s goals, responses, and points of view.
Geographical Strains (differences) of Feminism:
Historically, geography played a significant role in feminist criticism, with three somewhat different,
geographical strains of feminism having emerged: American, British, and French.

1. American:

According to Showalter, American feminism was essentially textual.

Kolodny, an important figure in American feminism, highlighted a major concern: making sure that the
writings of female writers are recognized and included in the literary canon. She wanted women to have
a chance to tell their own stories and have their voices heard in a world where male voices often
dominated the conversation.

Similarly, Sandra M. Gilbert and Susan Gubar talked about how men have been in charge of writing and
publishing for a long time. Because of this, men had the power to not just write about women but also
to create certain images or ideas about women in their writings.

They said that this power imbalance made many women writers feel worried and scared when they
tried to write, “Anxiety of authorship”. Women were afraid that if they wrote, they might be isolated or
pushed away by society. They feared that writing might even harm them in some way.

Gilbert and Gubar suggested a solution: they talked about the idea of a “woman’s sentence”. This is like
a unique way of writing that belongs to women. They said that by creating this special way of writing,
women could take control and have their own space in literature.

2. British:

According to Showalter, British feminism was essentially Marxist.

British feminism saw art, literature, and life as inseparable. In the West, patriarchal society exploits
women not only through literature but also economically and socially. The traditional Western family
structure put women in a lower position, making them rely on men for money and support. This
dependence showed up not only in real life but also in the stories written in books. British feminism of
this era challenges the economic and social status of women, both in society and as depicted in the
literature. For these critics, the goal of feminist criticism is to change society, not simply critique it.

3. French:

According to Showalter, American feminism was essentially psychoanalytic.

French feminism looked at how women were oppressed, not just in their everyday lives but also in art
and culture. They were very interested in psychology, especially ideas from Sigmund Freud and Jacques
Lacan.

Now, at first, it might seem odd because Freud's ideas often made women seem like they were less
important than men. He thought that women felt incomplete because they didn’t have what he called
the “phallus”, or the male organ. He said women wanted this to have power, and he called it “penis
envy”.

However, Jacques Lacan, another psychoanalyst, took Freud’s ideas and changed them a bit. He didn’t
agree with everything Freud said, especially the parts that seemed unfair to women. Lacan thought
differently about the “phallus” and power. He didn’t see it as just a physical thing; he believed it was
more about having influence and control in society.

French feminists looked at Lacan's ideas to understand how women were treated and thought about in
society, hoping to improve things for women.

Lacan had this idea that our minds work in three parts, or what he called orders: the imaginary, the
symbolic, and the real. These three parts interact with each other as we grow up.

In the beginning, from when we're born until about six months old, we live mostly in the imaginary
order. It's like a world of wishes, dreams, and images because we can't talk yet. At this stage, we don't
really see ourselves as separate from our mothers, so we're not thinking about gender.

But as we grow and go through what Lacan called the “Oedipal crisis”, we move into the symbolic order.
Here, we start to use language and understand social rules. Lacan said that in this phase, males tend to
become more dominant, especially when it comes to using language. Females, however, are socialized
to use a language that's seen as less important.

In this phase, the father becomes a big deal—the one who sets the rules. Both boys and girls worry
about displeasing the father and fear certain things, like the boy's fear of not being like his dad and the
girl's feeling of being under the father's control.

Lacan had this idea that in the beginning, before we understand rules and language (the imaginary
phase), boys have certain wishes and desires that could threaten them later on in the real world (the
third phase). Girls, when they start learning the rules and language (the symbolic phase), are guided by
the father's rules. This makes them seem less important compared to boys and can make them feel like
they need to follow what boys say.

Lacan believed that because language is something we learn and not something we're born with,
women can learn and use the language of both the symbolic and real phases. This means they can have
a say in making social, political, and personal changes by using language to influence things.
Assumptions:
1. Equality (Equal rights):

The core belief of feminist theory and criticism asserts that all people women and men are politically,
socially, and economically equal.

2. Self-discovery/ Identity Questions:

Women who are involved in a journey of self-discovery must ask themselves such questions as;

i. Who they are?

ii. How they arrived at their present situation?

iii. Where they are going?

3. Patriarchal System- Women as “The Other”:

In this patriarchal world, men hold more power; they often decide what’s considered normal or
standard for people. Women, on the other hand, are seen as different or ‘Other’, the “not-male”. Men
are seen as the ones who make decisions and set the rules. Women are often treated as if their
existence and roles are decided by men, rather than being seen as equal individuals who define their
own lives. Men are seen as the main focus, while women are seen as less important or secondary.

In many societies, including Western culture, there's a belief that men are superior to women. This
belief makes society structured in a way that men are seen as more important. This thinking has been
around for a long time, and it means that women are often treated as if they're not as good as men.

This idea has become a big part of how society is set up, and it affects everything from how people think
to how they act. Because of this belief, women are oppressed, which means they're treated unfairly and
kept down, because it's thought that if women are given equal opportunities, it will somehow hold back
the progress of society.

4. Binary Opposition (Unprivileged):

The man is the significant (or privileged) binary in the male/female relationship whereas the woman is
the subordinate (or unprivileged).
5. Women must define themselves:

Feminist theorists and critics declare that women must define themselves and articulate their roles. To
do so, they must analyze and challenge the established literary canon that has shaped such images of
female inferiority and subordination. Women should also challenge the old ideas that say men are
better or more important just because of their gender. They should gather different kinds of evidence
and reasons to show that women are equal and deserve respect.

To do this, women can take a good look at all sorts of literature and writings in different fields
(reexamination of the established literature), and also they can decide for themselves what it truly
means to be a woman and why it's important (by defining and validating what it means to be a
woman).