A Brief Overview of Feminism Essay example -- essays papers

A outline Overview of Feminism Feminism can be roughly described as a movement that seeks to enhance the quality of womens lives by impacting the norms and moves of a society based on male dominance and subsequent effeminate subordination. Although womens rightist literary writings began to gain popularity in the 20th century, womens liberationist characters have been around for ages. Feminist criticisms self transformations over the past several decades as it engages with both critiques from within and encounters from without- encounters with psychoanalysis, Marxism, Post-Structuralisms, ethnic studies, post-colonial theory, and homosexual and gay studies- have produced a complex proliferation of work not slowly subsumed to a single description. (Rivkin 527). According to Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan in their essay Feminist Paradigms, feminist criticism includes several other ideas. Gayle Rubin, author of The Traffic in Women Notes on the Political Economy of Sex, als o adds The literature on women- both feminist and anti-feminist- is a long rumination on the question of the disposition and genesis of womens oppression and social subordination. Some of the earlier feminist characters include Kate, from The Taming of the Shrew and The Wife of Bath from the Canterbury Tales. Unfortunately, during their times these women were viewed as each crazy or troublesome. There was little respect for their opinions and ideas. Trailblazers such as Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and Geo...