Feminism And Gender Studies

•rewriting of literary history so as to include the contributions of women

•tracing of a female literary tradition

•theories of sexuality and sexual difference (drawing on Psychoanalysis, Marxism, and the social sciences)

•representations of women in male literature (à stereotypes: angels, goddesses, whores, obedient wives, dutiful mothers)

•the role of gender in both literary creation and literary criticism (as studied in “gynocriticism”)

•connections between gender and various aspects of literary form, such as genre and meter

•Exploration of the connection between experience and language à Is there a specifically female experience that has been communicated by women writers?

-How do women confront the task of being historically coerced into using a language dominated by male concepts and values?

•1790s? Early 1800s? 1850s? – early 20th century (influence of the French Revolution & the Enlightenment, Wollestonecraft’s A Vindication)

•Term coined by Martha Lear in 1968 in the New York Times

•Connections to anti-slavery & anti-vivisection movements

Focus
•women’s suffrage

•improvement of women’s rights in employment

•education of women

•pursuit of women’s property rights

•right to execute a will

•promotion of the training and employment of women

•1960s-1980s, from the US to the rest of the western world

•Causes: the aftermath of the end of World War II. What are they and how do they affect gender politics?

•Effects of the feminist ‘sex wars’ in the gradual disappearance of the movement.

•Influence of the Civil Rights Movement and the Left (what effect do these movements have in literature?)

•Influence of French Feminism, Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949/1952) and Julia Kristeva’s l’ecriture feminine (Semeiotikè, 1969)

Focus
•workplace

•sexuality

•family

•reproductive rights

•private life issues: marital rape, domestic violence, divorce laws

•distinction between sex & gender

•rearticulating pop culture

•Motto: “The personal is political”

•Betty Freidan’s The Feminine Mystique (1963)

•Leading feminists: Gloria Steinem, Ellen Willis, Anne Koedt, Robin Morgan, Jo freeman (Joreen), Shulamith Firestone, Jane Alpert, Kate Millet, Ti-Grace Atkinson, etc.

•Militancy, consciousness raising, stunts, marches, workshops.

•RADICAL FEMINISM (1967-1975) VS CULTURAL FEMINISM (1975-1980s)

Some radical feminist groups: groups Redstockings, The Feminists, The Furies, New York Radical Feminists, Feminist Economic Network (FEN), Bread and Roses, Cell 16, WITCH.

Cultural feminist focus on sisterhood, the body, motherhood

•1990s-early 200s

•Changes in perspective as to the term ‘feminism’

•Reactions against 2nd wave “failures”

•Term coined by Rebecca Walker to emphasize the non-whiteness and queerness of the movement

•Various feminist outlooks are accepted: ecofeminists, animal rights feminists, academic feminists, liberals, black feminists, Asian-American feminists, gay feminists, post-structuralist feminists, etc.

Focus

•INTERSECTION of identities

•queer theory & gender politics

•gender role expectations & stereotypes

•common goals such as equal pay and penalization of rape, but different groups have different perspectives on the implications of political changes and individualistic identities

•other problems: single motherhood, glass ceiling, maternity-leave policies, etc.

•reclaiming of derogatory terms (bitch, whore, spinster, cunt, slut)

Motto: “The local is global”

•2010s-today

•Emphasis on technology in communications and sciences

•Online identities & “call-out/shaming culture”

•Re-questioning of the term ‘feminist’ for its exclusionary implications.

•Me Too & Time’s Up Movements against sexual harrassment and enabling.

•What kind of social commentary does Of Mice and Men make about sexual and gender difference?

•How do the characters in Of Mice and Men represent different genderdized identities? To what extent are such identities the product of performativity?

•How is the masculine/feminine dichotomy challenged and destabilized in the book?

•Do you regard any of the male characters as feminine or effeminate in some way?

•What symbols are employed to address sexuality? How are spaces themselves genderdized?

•Do you regard the text itself (and Steinbeck) as misogynistic? What about the characters?

•Hierarchical binarism: dichotomy that conceptualizes the world as a duality in which the components are of unequal value. Within a feminist/gender-based form of criticism, such inequality stems from the central position that traditional, normative masculinity occupies culturally and politically: masculine/feminine; heterosexual/homosexual; rational/emotional; strong/weak; independent/dependent; public sphere/private sphere; mind/body; economy/domesticity; etc.

•Performativity (in gender-related terms): based on Judith Butler’s theories, it is the belief that gender, as a cultural construct, is articulated through one’s own repetitive performance of gender-related expectations. Although Butler bases much of her argument on how the nonverbal body is put to performative use for such purposes, the importance of discourse and its multiple nuances should not be undermined. As a ‘stylized’ repetition of acts and gestures, gender identities persist through the mimesis of gender conventions, which entrap the subject within a series of behavioral norms that society makes him/her live up to.

•Otherness: although very much present in other forms of criticism related to identity politics, otherness is remains a central concept in discussions revolving around gender. Whether the ‘other’ takes the form of that other sex, an unconventional type of masculinity on account of character sensitiveness, or on account of disability, race, etc., the mere reflection of its existence connotes the extent to which patriarchal standards operate in hyper-masculinized settings.

•Agency (in gender-related terms): refers to the extent to which a character may be a subject (as opposed to an object-type). Agency within one’s gender implies having the emotional and financial independence to perform or exercise such gender, to be active (versus passive) when it comes to establishing social relations, and to consciously manage the resources that are concomitant to one’s gender.

•Stereotype (in gender-related terms): as in the case of the previous terms, stereotypes are quite defined when it comes to discussions based on gender. A stereotype is a cultural construct that provides an image to a type of gender identity that has been defined through historical determinism, cultural forces and hierarchical binarisms.