Gender Critcism

 To know the significance of studying Gender Criticism.
 To understand how gender generally influences the works
of literature.
 To identify the different approaches of Gender Criticism.
 To know some of the authors and literary works involved in
Gender Criticism.

What is Gender?
The state of being
a man (masculine)
and
a woman/ feminine

What is Gender Criticism?
Gender criticism examines how sexual identity influences the
creation, interpretation, and evaluation of literary works.”
(Kennedy, 2071)
Because literature is timeless, Gender Criticism greatly
influences the way society views gender differences. Therefore, it
examines how an author may have influenced gender perception
through a work of literature.

Purpose of Gender Criticism
-to criticize gender as we commonly conceive it.
 Essentialism - concentrates of the differences between
men and women and their bodies.
 Constructionism - concentrates in the differences being
related to nurture not nature

Approaches of Gender Criticism
 Masculinist (recently advocated by poet Robert Bly)
-an ideology of masculinity; and ideology opposed to, or
opposed by feminism.
 Feminist
-a social theory or political movement arguing that legal and
social restrictions on females must be removed in order to bring
about equality of both sexes in all aspects of public and private life

Historical Background
In 1960’s, the gender criticism approach began when
feminist criticism arose. There are definite differences
that have been noted between gender criticism and
feminist criticism. The difference is sex and sexuality.
Gender Criticism is based on common conceptions of
gender.

Feminist Criticism
Takes as a central precept that
the patriarchal attitudes that
have dominated western thought
have resulted, consciously or
unconsciously, in literature “full
of unexamined ‘male-produced’
assumptions.” Feminist criticism
attempts to correct this
imbalance by analyzing and
combatting such attitudes…

Other goals of feminist critics include “analyzing
how sexual identity influences the reader of a text”
and “examining how the images of men and women in
imaginative literature reflect or reject the social
forces that have historically kept the sexes from
achieving total equality.

Gender Criticism is present in literature
as the time of learning to read.
 The image shown illustrates the typical roles
of males and females.

After outgrowing the childhood reading, Americans are able to
see the effects of gender in William Shakespeare’s work.
 Ophelia is consumed with
an actual madness since she
perceives that she has a
problematic relationship.
Her madness escalates with
the death of her father
Polonius. Hamlet however,
exhibits a pretend sense of
madness resulting from a
plan to avenge his father’s
death.
William
Shakespeare

Emily Dickenson
Her first work was published in
1890 four years after her death.
Her work was found after her
death in 40 volumes of nearly 1800
poems. There are many of Emily’s
poems that are important in
gender criticism movement.
280

I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280)
Emily Dickinson, 1830 - 1886
I felt a Funeral, in my Brain,
And Mourners to and fro
Kept treading – treading – till it seemed
That Sense was breaking through –
And when they all were seated,
A Service, like a Drum –
Kept beating – beating – till I thought
My Mind was going numb –
And then I heard them lift a Box
And creak across my Soul
With those same Boots of Lead, again,
Then Space – began to toll,
As all the Heavens were a Bell,
And Being, but an Ear,
And I, and Silence, some strange
Race
Wrecked, solitary, here –
And then a Plank in Reason, broke,
And I dropped down, and down –
And hit a World, at every plunge,
And Finished knowing – then –

Europe
Emperially-mined European women, like others in North
America, sometimes operated from the same assumption of
superiority when they founded the first international
women’s group.
International Council of Women (1888)
International Women Suffrage Alliance (1904)
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
(1915)

What has caused the continued gender
role differences??
Picture of the entrances to
the restroom.
At early ages children
learn that males wear
pants and women wear
dresses.

Strategies for Gender Criticism
1. Consider the gender of the writer, what role does gender play in his
work?
2. Examine whether the reading of the work may be altered by the changes
in gender roles over time.
3. Observe how gender stereotypes might be reinforced or undermined.
4. Consider the gender of the characters, and what role gender plays in
this work?
5. How is the relationship between men and women depicted?
6. How does the treatment of gender in the work reflect the work’s
meaning?

Other attributes to gender criticism of could be the
deficiency of female authors until the 20th century.
Historically female education has been inferior to that
of males. After the 19th Century women were more
frequently allowed admission to colleges and
universities. The amounts of women that attain
master’s degree and doctoral degrees also have risen.
“The resulting stereotype that “a woman’s place is in
the home” has largely determined the ways in which
women have expressed themselves.”

Gender Critcism

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Gender Critcism