Feminism I Oppression of Women Women’s Movement Images of Women as Examples

Outline Course Review: Q & A From New Criticism to Feminism Feminisms: Starting Questions

Course Review Q & A What have we done so far? Romantic/Victorian Poetry about Nature and Quest. Main Points?  Wordsworth – seeking redemption and sublimation first in nature and then in memories and imagination about nature  Keats – nature with its contradictions, as a vale of soul-making  Women – supplementary (Dorothy Wordsworth) or used as symbols (Melancholy, La Belle Dame) New Criticism  Text as an organic whole

From New Criticism to Feminism 1. autonomous self/text, universal human nature Feminism: Self/text conditioned — gendered and (de-)sexualized — by society and history, and more specifically, by patriarchal society. 2. Methodologies: -- Close reading (of both form and content) is still important; -- symptomatic reading – instead of reading for the text’s wholeness, we read for its holes and/or biases -- reading against the grain – alternative readings

Feminisms: Starting Questions Who is a feminist? Are you a feminist? Can a man be a feminist? Clip 1Clip 1 gender difference: What are the differences between men and women?  Biology--Is our body our destiny?  Personality & Behavior --What is “being feminine” like?  Career Aptitude—Are there jobs unsuitable for women?  Writing--Do men and women write differently?

Feminisms: Starting Questions(2) Images of Women:  What are the traditional/stereotypical images of women (as a mother, as a career woman, as a college girl and as a daughter)? What’s wrong with them? (one simple example)(one simple example)  How do women deal with those traditional images? Rejecting them completely?  How do women look at women and women’s images? From a man’s perspective, or a woman’s?

Young Women in Dove Commercials

Young Women in Dove Commercials Images of “long-straight-hair” women – conformity  stereotype of campus beauty Non-professional user account – apparent reliability

Feminisms: Starting Questions(3) Feminine Writing, Feminist writings and Women’s work:  What is feminine writing? Does it have definite features?  Are all women writers feminist writers?  What are the feminist strategies used in feminist writings and cultural productions?

Feminisms: Starting Questions(4) Body, Desire, Sexuality and Sexual Orientation:  How do women express/liberate their desires? Is sexual liberation the only good way? How about body sculpture?  How is our sexual orientation determined? Genetically? By family background? Or by choice?  What is “good sex” and what is “bad”? (How about S/M?) How is marriage or love related to sex?  Should pornography be banned? And prostitution be legalized?

Feminisms: focuses in class 1. women's positions in patriarchal society and discourses (this week) 2. history of feminist movement & writings 3. Feminisms and Gender Studies: Radical Feminism, French Feminism, Post-Feminism, Lesbian Feminism, Taiwanese Feminisms

What is patriarchy? 1. male domination and limitation of women in society; e.g. foot binding, Hijab, Purdah system, Sati. 2. male superiority in ideologies (e.g. Aristotle declared that "the female is female by virtue of a certain lack of qualities"; St. Thomas Aquinas:woman is an ‘imperfect man’; Confucius ） 3. in language and literature (e.g. chairman, the universal "he"; God as "He"; in Chinese: 妒、姦、妙、佞, etc. 4. in sex and biology (women as rapable, receptacle of sperm)

Male Dominance in Literature before 20 th century.  Predominance of male writers  Women limited to writing in certain genres (e.g. diary, letter, romance). Stereotypical presentation of women; goddess, mistress, fallen women and femme fatale.

Male Dominance in Literature Objectifications of Women – Angel or Whore 1. Stereotyping Idealization; Degradation

Male Dominance in Literature (2): Images of Women as objects of desire 1) as objects of desire--e.g. "Araby," "La Belle Dame Sans Merci" "To His Coy Mistress" and courtly love poetry, “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” symbol 2) as symbol--"Young Goodman Brown," "Grecian Urn" "To Autumn“; “Ode on Melancholy” Other or Villain 3) as Other or Villain – Snow White’s Stepmother; Fatal Attraction inferior or subordinate 4) women inferior or subordinate--Eve, romance (knight and lady), 007 films and the other Hollywood films (Working Girl, Coma, Silence of the Lamb)

Male Dominance in the Other Cultural Products Classical Nude Paintings and Pre- Raphaelite Paintings Hollywood Films (contemporary ambivalent ones: Switch) Music videos Commercials, advertisement

“The Female Body” “The female body has many uses. It’s been used as a door-knocker, a bottle- opener, as a clock with a ticking belly, as something to hold up lampshades, as a nutcracker, just squeeze the brass legs together and out comes your nut.... “ Margaret Atwood