Message #81970

[Bianca]

Feminist theory



Feminist theory is an extension of feminism into theoretical or philosophical fields.

It encompasses work in a variety of disciplines, including anthropology, sociology, economics, women's studies, literary criticism, art history, psychoanalysis and philosophy.

Feminist theory aims to understand gender inequality and focuses on gender politics, power relations, and sexuality.

While providing a critique of these social and political relations, much of feminist theory also focuses
on the promotion of women's rights and interests. Themes explored in feminist theory include discrimination, stereotyping, objectification (especially sexual objectification), oppression, and patriarchy.

The American literary critic and feminist Elaine Showalter describes the phased development of
feminist theory.

The first she calls "feminist critique", in which the feminist reader examines the ideologies behind literary phenomena.

The second Showalter calls "gynocriticism", in which the "woman is producer of textual meaning" including "the psychodynamics of female creativity; linguistics and the problem of a female language; the trajectory of the individual or collective female literary career [and] literary history".

The last phase she calls "gender theory", in which the "ideological inscription and the literary effects
of the sex/gender system" are explored".

This model has been criticized by Toril Moi who sees it as an essentialist and deterministic model for female subjectivity and for failing to account for the situation of women outside the West.