Post-Modern Feminism

The feminist literary criticism of today is the direct product of the ‘women’s movement’ of the 1960s. This movement, having a literary inclination right from the beginning gained significance, since it imparted a great deal of attention to the portrayal of women by literature.Thus, differentview points on female depiction formed a spectrum of ideas and they were later studied as various feminist theories.

One such theory incorporates post-modern and post - structuralist theory, moving beyond the polarities the ‘Post-modern feminism’. This theory propounds that ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ is morphed by the society over a period of time. For example :because traditional gender roles dictate that men are supposed to be strong (physically powerful and traditionally stoic). They are not supposed to cry because crying is considered to be a sign of weakness. For similar reasons, it is considered unmanly for men to express any sort of emotion for other men. Failing to provide adequate economic support for one’s family is considered the most humiliating failure a man can experience because it means failure a this biological role as the ‘provider’.

Similarly ,patriarchy continually exerts forces that undermine a woman’s self-confidence and assertiveness and then comfortably points at the absence of these very qualities to prove the point that women are naturally self-facing and submissive. For example: little girls are told early in their educational careers that they are incapable of solving math problems. If not so explicitly in words,they are told so by the body language ,tone of voice and facial expression of adults and peers then, the patriarchal mindset points to their low scores in mathematics as a proof that they are biologically ill-suited to the subject.

Seen in association with literature, some literary works lend themselves more readily than others to feminist analysis. ‘Feminist analysis’ refers to the ability to recognize and infer whether a piece of work reinforces or criticizes the patriarchal . For instance :Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’ maybe read as a novel that invites us to criticize the sexist behaviours and attitudes it portrays. Plus, the novel’s feminist agenda is evident in its positive representation and appreciation of strong women – such as Aunt Jimmy, M’Dear and Mac Teer. While some literary works may have a conflicted response to patriarchal ideology ,as in Mary Shelly’s ‘Frankenstein’ (1818).