Title: How to Use Feminist Literary Criticism | Pen and the Pad
Headings: How to Use Feminist Literary Criticism
How to Use Feminist Literary Criticism
Traditional Literary Uses
Entertainment and Feminist Criticism
Culture and Sexual Politics
Controversies and the Future

Content: For example, feminist criticism and historical documents can be used to interpret the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and show that in the late 1800s, although both men and women were bound by moral and social conventions, men were allowed more sexual freedom and control over their individual destiny. Entertainment and Feminist Criticism
Film critics use feminist criticism to show how mainstream Hollywood exploits stereotypical gender roles for commercial viability in films such as “Legally Blonde.” Feminist film critics also look for changing gender concepts such as gender neutral attitudes and role reversals, including heroines who fiercely challenge stereotypical gender roles in harshly patriarchal cultures. Harvard Crimson writer Tarina Quraishi says the film “The Hunger Games” reveals characters with nontraditional gender roles and shows “there is nothing inherently masculine about aggression or feminine about passivity." Culture and Sexual Politics
Feminist critics investigate cultural expressions of all forms, including linguistics, visual art and popular texts, using the concept of dominant discourse. Dominant discourse refers to the power dynamics that control the written, spoken and behavioral expectations imposed upon society and culture by those in power. One way that women writers contribute to dominant discourse is by showing how patriarchy misrepresents the emotional and sexual experiences of women and by exploring new narrative strategies that help reshape sexual politics. Cultural views on morality are “a product of books and movies like Fifty Shades of Grey ,” according to The Atlantic journalist Anna Green. Feminist critics say the novel shows “the terrible communication” between males and females. Controversies and the Future
It is common knowledge that the traditional work of women is devalued and women still make less money than men in many commercial enterprises at the time of publication.