Feminist theory- Stephen Martin critical essay questions and summary

What does 'derided' mean?
'Derided' means to express contempt for something or someone.


What is 'gynocriticism'?
Gynocriticism is the historical study of women writers as a distinct literary tradition. Gynocriticism as a result of the interrogative critiques utilised in post-structuralism and psychoanalysis.


Feminist theory reduced to 5 sentences

• Feminist theory is the belief that society is patriarchal and controlled only by men.
• Women are conditioned to accept the view of women in which they are and should be submissive to male dominance.
• The association between gender and other features- all things that go to make up our concept of what is 'feminine' and what is 'masculine'- is a cultural construct.
• Gynocriticism is criticism that deals with literature written by women in all its aspects.
• Female critics have also sought to redefine the accepted list of great works, rescuing large numbers of female writers from obscurity, and establishing quite large numbers of female writers as worthy of the attention hitherto denied them.

Reduced to 5 words


-Patriarchal
-Conditioned
-Construct
-Criticism
-Obscurity


Reduced to 1 word


-Patriarchal


119 word summary
Feminist theory by Stephen Martin outlines the idea that women are controlled and ruled by the male sex, that they are subordinated to men in all aspects of life, work and culture. It states that women are conditioned to accept and promulgate the view of women that allows them to be dominated therefore they become a factor of their own enslavement. Women are made in society’s gaze of how they perceive the perfect woman to be; passive, emotional and supportive. Throughout literature the odds have been stacked against women as it has been dominated by men writing for men. Feminist critics have sought to redefine the accepted list of ‘Great works’ and to rescue many female writers from obscurity.