Feminism and its literary forerunners

In fiction or nonfiction, the term "feminist" is used to denote the cultural, political, economic, and political movement that aimed to provide equal rights and legal protection for women. It covers sociological and political viewpoints that address issues related to feminine differences as well as activities that promote gender parity for women and female human rights and interests. Despite having been used in common speech earlier, feminism only started to gain traction in the early 1970s. In many aspects of western civilization, from culture to how laws are written, feminism has altered prevalent viewpoints. The advocated legal rights that women were striving for included right of contract, property rights, and even voting rights. They also advocated for the security of women and girls from internal violence and sensual provocation and rape in places such as workplaces. They also had to advocate for the right to access maternity leave, against misogyny and other procedures of gender-specific discernment touching women.

Examples of Katherine Hepburn addressed about the suffragette programme in 1942 movie female of the year, and the main focus was to advocate for her fellow women rights and interest. Most systematized radicalism did not kicked off till the first women’s meeting apprehended in Seneca Falls America in 1848. It evolved out from social reforms such as the eradication of captivity and societal laws. Women's liberation wave occurred in waves the first being at the 1960s and 1970, and the third stretches to early 1990s then there emerged theory of feminist movement. It manifests in various fields of persuasions including feminist history, feminist literary criticism, and campaigner geography. History of feminist movements and theory had most of their leaders are largely middle-class women. In 1851 Sojourner Truth gave a speech to American Feminisms and females of other races different feminisms, the struggle enhanced towards the 1960s and the political rights programme in the USA, Southeast Asia and other parts of the world (Abell 220). Black Feminist including Angela Davis and Alice Walker came out to play a major role in shaping the view of post-colonial and go against the western feminism being ethnocentric.

Feminism however divided the movement history into their waves as they advocate for their rights, freedom, and interests. The first wave was mostly concerned about women’s suffrage movement; this was to advocate for women rights to exercise their voting rights. It was adversely experienced in the USA and Britain. IT initially targeted the advancement of equal elevation of fair contracts and right to own a property for women and disapproval to challenge the marital and possession of wives by their fellow husbands. This activism later accelerated in the nineteenth century to principally fast political power and chiefly activist including Voltairine de Cleyre and Margaret Sanger was in the other side actively activism for women’s Reproductive economic and sexual rights during this period. Health was also an important sector to be looked into and in 1854 Florence Nightingale established Female nurses. In Britain, most Suffragettes representation of the people Act 1918 and suffragettes actively campaigned for women’s vote. At first women, age 30 who owned houses were allowed to vote but later in 1928 in was extended and women of twenty one and above were included.

The second wave was later developed to be used to define a movement which focuses plentiful on struggling against cultural, political inequalities and social inequalities. It was an action that took place in the early 1960s and lasts through to late1980s. Imelda Whelehan referred to the second wave as the continuation of the earlier wave that had occurred, and it was basically anxious about matters of equality and aimed at terminating discrimination. A saying “The personal is Political” was introduced by feminist Hanisch coined and the slogan became the accelerator of second-wave. Most of the feminist in the second considered ethnic and civil disparities as inextricably, they, however, took time to inspire women to recognize characteristics of their own lives as discussed and as an image of the chauvinist power of structures.

Simone de Beauvoir wrote a novel on the scrutiny of women’s domination and basis of feminism. It explains Feminists existentialism which describes moral revolution; she claims that females have since past been deliberated different and uncharacteristic and that to change forward this outlook should be set aside. There was a great liberation of women during this period (1964), and the phrase was used to refer to complete women liberation. Gloria Jean stressed the nonexistence of minority expressions in the women liberation (Papa 1800). The effort was marked over class and race and therefore was not able to report the concerns that separated women.

The end of the second tendency extended leading to the third wave, and this appeared in the 1990s. It arises as a response to perceiving the failure of the second wave to report the issues and correspondingly as a reply to the counterblast and movements formed in the succeeding wave. The third wave women's movement aimed at challenging and avoiding the problems encountered in the second stage. The most challenges encountered was the lack of proper terms that could fully define femininity instead there was an overemphasis on the experiences of white women who were middle-class.

Post-feminism describes responses to women liberation, and they believed that women have achieved their goals and criticize the effect and the goals of the third wave and the results. Post-feminist, however, says that movement is no longer much appropriate to the modern community. The post-feminism was not anti-feminist, but it believed that women were capable of achieving their goals and it considers the third wave as a crucial stage of feminist goals. Post-feminist is currently the brand for extensive range of theories which aided the serious methods to preceding feminist and the difficulties which faced the second wave. It also gives a good impression that feminists have achieved their goals and equality and they can now aim at some other things entirely (Kelly 44). An article that was printed in New York Times Magazine gives views of the dialogues by most females mostly approved with the targets of feminism, however, did not identify them as feminists.

Due to many radical movements in the 1970s, many newsletters magazines and posters have been produced and much critical analysis is being done to find out the underlying reason of how the women authors gain widespread and exposure and gaining intellectual abilities. It was during the nineteenth century that most of the scholars raised concerns and much the literary output, many women writers, however, argued that it is gender consciousness and feminist attitude that came first. The urge to achieve their goals gives them to develop a feminist attitude which came front position of the legendary imaginings and therefore altering how the female author’s work could be presented. The number of women authors whoever increased in the preceding century since women who accessed higher education increased equipping them with expertise that can be used to develop their artistic writings. The expansion in the economy of the market growth as well as life anticipations altered how the women were expected to behave in the U.S. society (Jayawardena 400). This achievement gave them an urge to be more mindful of their legal, social and political disparity. However, the revolution and many social reforms that were led by women in the 19th century such as temperance, abolitionism, and suffrage offered women a chance to get setting, addressees, and medium to help them express their opinions.

As the year progressed most scholars found out that there was an increasing number of women who express their views in writing, this included their dissatisfaction in gender relations and challenges of women in general. At the beginning most women authors were confined in genres of children and poetry, the poetry was emotional and particularly with depth meaning, morality and sentiment. It was celebrated as it was considered feminine genre and suitable for women writers. The then advance and began writing fictions but it faces challenges as they receive critical reviews of age, inferior women novelists and seen to lack experience traits that characterize men.

Some of the century women who were the greatest novelist did not escape the criticism and negative assessment of their work which was majorly based on the author’s gender. They included Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot, George Sand and Mary Shelley (Abell 225). It was considered sexism, and it is a historical dismal where most of them, gifted, and most of the influential women writers were consistently seen as unworthy. Modern critics have continued to disregard the contribution of the female writers, but the most of them are becoming more prevalent, popular than a male novelist. The Subjection of women by John Stuart Mills, however, disputed that women could have to struggle hard to do away with male tradition’s influences and create an original and independent form of art. However, to her, the nineteenth century seemed to be a year of a female novelist.

Women novelists’ awareness of themselves and their female audience shows kind of solidarity and togetherness as they seek to express their views through writing. Sarah Ellis, one of the Victorian generations, felt that airing opinions through writing will give the minority experience for women a binding force that will enable them to read and put whatever written into actions. Some women writers, like American novelist Fanny Fern, encouraged the use of fiction to revenge the evil deed of the society or a patriarchal society but most of them were against because of the sister and maternal feeling. Early Women writers’ relationship has experienced many challenges as they role play in their professional field. They find it hard to control the male writers and to curb their unwomanly self-assertion.

Since Feminine novelist begun in 1800 when the job of the novelist was recognized as a good profession, it rather brought about conflict due to the status that the women hold in a community. Its radical development of knowledge is the role-playing that requires woman effort to participate in the mainstream of the literary culture. As the women of the first generation begin their careers than a sense of what feminism novel by Bronte meant regarding genres and it later led to the development of many other genres by different authors. Some of the novelists like Charlotte and Dinah, however, were conservative and they were aware that the Feminism novel advocated for the rights of the weak, ignorant, refinement and sentimentality (Shannon 22). Women movement liberation anticipated for both the use of online and hard copies as a medium through which feminists would continue to communicate and share ideas. They developed new and accessible approaches to bring feminism to their new audiences.

Among the proto-feminists who advocated for women rights through writing include Margaret Cavendish. She is the inventor of the genre of the science fiction; she was an independent and eccentric woman and a prolific writer, poet, essayist, and playwright. In her original oration of Divers sorts she addresses of women lack of power in the society and their rights to pursue their ambitions and freedom just as men. However, she was worried that such ambitions and struggle will lead to masculine and will lose feminine virtues. Marie De Gournay was a French feminist a scholar who had special interests of advocating the rights of women to education in her articles. She was a translator and very outspoken, she was an editor of famous essays which were adopted by many other women, and it helped them advocate for the right access education. She argued that women could achieve as much as men and therefore should be given the same opportunities. Some of her essays which addressed the issue had titles like Equality Between Men and Women and Complaints about Ladies. Another one was Sor Juana de la Cruz gave all her passion in becoming a nun and advocating for the intellectual fulfillment of women (Kelly 50). She published a book as a defense for the right of women, but she faced a lot of trouble as she earned massive rebukes from the male religious.

Feminist Theory

Feminist theory is simply an extension of the concept of feminism into some philosophical or theoretical fields. It comprises of work in various disciplines like economics, sociology, philosophy, art history, literary criticism, psychoanalysis, women studies, and anthropology. This theory focuses on enabling us to understand the features of gender inequality through discussing the issues of gender politics, sexuality, relations and power. It goes ahead to give a critique of the political and social relations as it focuses on the promotions of both the interests and rights of women. Some of the themes that are explored as far as the theory is concerned are objectification, stereotyping, patriarchy, objectification, discrimination and oppression.

One of the pioneer feminists who were also a literary critic, Elaine Showalter explains much about the development of the feminist theory. She called the first phase the feminist critique and explained it to be a phase whereby individuals can examine the main ideas behind d a literary phenomenon. She calls the second phase gynocriticism, a phase where the woman is seen to be a producer of textual meaning. The textual meaning comprises of dialectology and the issue of female dialect, the course of an individual or the woman literary work and history and the psychodynamics of female creativity. The final phase she named it as the gender theory in which the major ideological and literary impacts of the gender or sexual orientation are explored. This model developed by Elaine was later criticized by a scholar by the name Toril Moi (Nienaber and Nthabiseng 150). He said that it was just a deterministic and essentialist model of female subjectivity that did not try to account for the situation in which the women from outside the west are undergoing.

Feminist movements and ideologies

There are several movements that have been developed over the years concerning feminism. Most of them overlap, and the pioneer feminists identify with some of them with other types of feminist thoughts. The ideologists and movements that the pioneer feminists addressed are as discussed below.

Liberal feminism

This type of feminism talks about the impartiality between men and women over both the legal and political reform. As a characteristic procedure of feminism, this movement emphasizes on the ability of women to uphold their equivalence to men through choices and activities. According to all the feminists who engaged in writing about liberal feminism, all women have the ability to enhance equality, and for this reason, change can happen without the need to alter how the society is structured. The liberal feminists, therefore, took part in discussing issues that affect women such as affordable childcare and healthcare, sexual harassment, equal remuneration, reproductive and reproduction rights, education, voting and reduction of both the domestic and sexual violence among women.

Black feminism

The ideologies that the feminists presented under this type majored on discussions about class oppression, racism, and sexism. Some forms of feminism have tried so much to overcome the problems of sexism and class oppression though they do not address the problem of racism. According to an article written in 1974, The Combahee River, the liberation of black women enhanced freedom for all people since it could lead to an end of all the above mentioned three issues (Galvan 56). This great movement was what led to the rise of a theory of womanism developed by Alice Walker. The theory was developed after the movements held by early feminists, who were mainly white women that campaigned for changes like the suffrage of woman. The movements can be said to have been very successful as far as ignoring the oppression based on both classism and racism.

Some womanists, including Alice Walker, went out to point out in their literary pieces that the black women faced a lot of intense and different kind of oppression from their white counterparts. There were also feminists who argued out about the connection between gender, race, and class. Angela Davis was among them since she discussed this in details in her book, Women, Race, and Class. Kimberle Crenshaw was also a well-known feminist who expounded on the nature of the intersectionality as she discussed the politics of identity in her essay that was titled; "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color".

Radical feminism

This type of feminism majors on the hierarchy in which the male is considered the head as well as the top controller. The radical feminists always believed that the women could free themselves once they were able to do away with what was considered dominative and oppressive in their lives. Their feeling was that the structure in which the male had great authority and power and this is the reason for the increased oppression and inequality in the society. Because of these, this feminist so needs to do away with this structure to achieve the call of reducing the problem it caused.

There are three known sub-division of this type of feminism known as the cultural, separatist and anti-pornography. Cultural is based on the female essence or nature, and it aims at revalidating what has already been considered to be undervalued attributes of women. It emphasizes on the existence of a psychological difference between men and women as well as advocate for institution building and independence. The feminists that are associated with this type retreated from politics to lifestyle, and one of them was Alice Echols who described in details the act of depoliticizing radical feminism (Baksh 80).

Separatist feminism, on the other hand, is the one that does not give any support to heterosexuality. It goes ahead to argue that the existing differences between men and women cannot be resolved and therefore inequality will continue being present in an unforeseeable future. These feminists also believe that the menfolk cannot help in any way in the enhancement of the matters associated with feminism. One author, Marilyn Frye explains that this kind of feminism implies to the separation of various modes like male domination, male privilege, and operation for the benefits of males from the men. According to her, the separation will be more effective and successful if it was started and maintained by the women at their own will.

Anarcha-feminism

This type of feminism is also known as anarchy or anarchist feminism, and it works through a combination of feminism and anarchy. It considers patriarchy to be a great manifestation of involuntary hierarchy, thus sees the fight against anarchy as an important part of the class-based struggle as well as the anarchist struggle against the state. Among the true anarchy feminists were Lucy Parsons, Voltairine de Cleyre, Emma Goldman and Federica Montseny. Their work is mainly to defend both the feminist and anarchist ideas. The writers that have come up with the literature about this type of feminism are Susan Brown, Starhawk, who was an eco-feminist and Germaine Greer.

Socialist and Marxist feminism

The two are connected as far as the labor, exploitation, and oppression of women is concerned. The socialist feminists believed that the inequality that existed in the workplaces and at homes hold down the women. They saw marriage, childcare, domestic work as well as prostitution to be among how the women get exploited and their substantial work gets devalued. These feminists, therefore, focused their energy on the changes that they believe to have an impact on the society as a whole instead of on specific individuals alone. There was a need to work with all individuals rather than men alone since the oppression of women were a great pattern that affected on the involved people in one way or another.

Even the Marxist feminists believed that overcoming the class oppression will lead to an automatic overcoming of the gender oppression. Some of the socialist feminist's gender oppression does not qualify to be sub-class of class oppression. Hence they have separated the two completely. They have also gone ahead to criticize the Marxists thoughts who explained in their writings that there is a powerful connection between class and gender oppression. August Bebel and Frederick Engels are some of the Marxists that explained so in their writings.

Despite the criticism, the Marxist feminists went on to write against men demonization and fostered activities that were aimed at reducing the inequalities between men and women. The Marxist movement was the one that developed the most radical demands for equality among men and women. Its leaders like Alexandra Kollontai and Clara Zetkin did not combine feminism and Marxism but counterposed the two to address their stands well (LI, and Yu-wei 965).

How feminism related to various disciplines

Scientific discourse

Some of the feminist writers criticized the traditional discourse of science to argue that this field is mainly unfair towards the male standpoint. Evelyn Fox Keller, for instance, claims that the main reflection of rhetoric science is just the male perception. Thus she queries the ideology of the impartiality of science. They viewed objectivity as eschewed in the can of the agenda of helping women and an open self-reflexivity. There is also a part of feminism research that is aiming at reducing the creation and reinforcement of power inequalities in the society as well as in the academic or scientific institutions. Sarah Blaffer, a primatologist also highlights the masculine-prevalence theories and stereotypes (LI, and Yu-wei 968). One of them is the non-sexual female that exists despite the availability of enough evidence that contradicts it. Most social and natural scientists have been examining the feminists’ ideologists by use of scientific methods.

Fascism

The fascist states, such as the Nazi Germany, in the 1930s and 1940s, are the examples of the disastrous consequences for the society that result from glorifying women. This is a problem that mostly ended up in anti-feminism (Papa 1817). For instance, after the rise of fascism in the Nazi Germany, the political rights were considerably dissolved as well as economic opportunities that the feminists were fighting to earn. In Spain also, the Catholic conservatives successfully destroyed the work of the feminists during the republic. The fascist society was, therefore, one that was hierarchical and emphasized and idealized masculinity, with the females maintaining a largely subordinate position to men.

Socialism

Some of the feminists allied a lot with socialism since the start of the twentieth century. This was enhanced by the international conference of the socialist women and the call for women to build a socialist order. This socialist order was the only one that allowed for the radical solution the questions of women. The movement was strengthened and allied by the labour party in Britain whereas Betty Friedan stood up to take the command of the movement in America. There were also revolutions in the Latin American that were aimed at bringing changes to the statuses of women in nations like Nicaragua where the feminist ideology was responsible for the improvement of the quality of life of women. Despite the effort, the revolutions did not achieve the intended ideological and social change.



Evolutionary biology

In her writings, Sarah Kember drew from various areas like cybernetics, sociobiology, artificial intelligence and evolutionary biology to develop the new evolutionism that discussed the biologinization of the technology. She outlines how the sociologists and feminists had become the suspects of evolutionary psychology, especially in trying to strengthen the sexual difference. Whereas the radical model is critiqued for its wrong opinions concerning the nature of women, Kembers contends that radicalism is a stimulating position as far as evolutionary theory and biology are concerned (Brooker, Raman and Peter 12). The position is advantageous in understanding the circumstances that mark it probable to have a give or take in the development of novel artifacts and ideas.

Conclusion

The topic of feminism and feminist literature provoked a lot of reaction from the males. There has been a very complex relationship between feminism and men has been complex. The male has engaged a lot and responded greatly to the feminism surge of the undertaking. The reactions have remained both optimistic and adverse, and this is based on the time context and the individual man. In the 21st century, there has been the rise of male scholars who involve themselves in gender studies and try to promote male equality as well. History has shown that a good number of men have engaged themselves in feminism, whereby some support the demand for the rights of women while others campaign against it. So it is a good idea to note that it is not women alone who have been involved in feminism, but also men. Feminism is also a movement that has very many impacts to the society. The level of these impacts depends on how the various individuals, both men and women react to this concept. It has been realized that most people treat it as a prejudice to the males and that is why most male are not for it. These males go ahead to do things that leads to the up rise of the effects of feminism in the society.



























Works Cited

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