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: How to Use Feminist Literary Criticism | Pen and the Pad
How to Use Feminist Literary Criticism
Amanda Petrona Updated April 17, 2017
Home » Language & Lit
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Feminist literary criticism is used to explore the inequalities, social injustices and abusive messages directed toward women within patriarchal societies and cultures. Patriarchy is a system of social organization that traces descent through the male line and bestows privilege and power to males on the assumption of their physical and intellectual superiority over women. Feminist literary criticism has evolved from a strictly literary activity to a way of analyzing and interpreting all forms of human communication and language. Traditional Literary Uses
Writers and readers use feminist criticism, combined with insights from history, psychology and other disciplines, to explore drama, novels, short stories and poetry. Feminist criticism looks at the conflicts and hardships faced by women in different literary eras and genres. For example, feminist criticism and historical documents can be used to interpret the short story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin and show that in the late 1800s, although both men and women were bound by moral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.