Free Écriture féminine Essays and Papers

The term ‘Ecriture Feminine’, literally meaning ‘feminine writing’, was coined by Helene Cixous. To understand the idea of Ecriture feminine, it is necessary to understand Lacan’s idea of the Symbolic: according to Lacan, a child’s entry into the Symbolic is an entry into the system of language, which always precedes the individual and is centered on the phallus. Cixous built upon the idea that the woman is excluded from Lacan’s Symbolic and she never enters it, therefore a woman’s lived experience

A Feminist Reading of Their Eyes Were Watching God In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, the reader is treated to an enthralling story of a woman’s lifelong quest for happiness and love.  Although this novel may be analyzed according to several critical lenses, I believe the perspectives afforded by French feminists Helene Cixous and Luce Irigaray have been most useful in informing my interpretation of Hurston’s book.  In “The Laugh of the Medusa,” Cixous discusses a phenomenon

helped create and co-found multiple women’s organizations, such as the “National Organization for Women (NOW), National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL Pro-Choice America), and the National Women’s Political Caucus (NWPC).” Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique because she wanted to know if other housewives felt the way she did after she lost her job and Friedan also said that she wanted to refute claims from a book called Modern Woman: The Lost Sex, that “said [that] too much education was making

the traditional Anglo-Saxon views of women by praising Wealhtheow, condemning Grendel's mother, and showing the need to suppress feminine forces like Wyrd; however, he does offer some criticism of these views by creating sympathy for Grendel's mother, allowing Wealhtheow to assert herself in the interest of her husband and children, and revealing masculine fear of feminine power. The author creates Wealhtheow to embody the role of a traditional Anglo-Saxon woman, and he presents this role as the

women were unhappy with the idea that they were fundamentally only responsible for being wives, mothers and homemakers; they had nothing they could associate as their own accomplishments. Another study came out in 1963; it was called The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan.

The Problem That Has No Name The Feminine Mystique written by Betty Friedan was one of the first books that targeted the idealized image of an American woman at the time. The ideal image of an American woman, during the civil rights era, was a middle-class, college-educated housewife. Who's sole purpose was to happily take care of the home while the men focus their time on more pressing issues, such as the fast-paced world of business or the politics of the Russian conflict. These issues were simply

“The only way for a woman, as for a man, to find herself, to know herself as a person, is by creative work of her own”. Betty Friedan, feminist author and icon who’s most famous work came to be known as The Feminine Mystique (1963), was not always aware of the impact she would have on the feminist cause, but after requesting a maternity leave to raise her three children, she was terminated from her job and replaced by a man. This event made Friedan conscientious of the fact that women struggled

represented women's primary opportunity for achievement and respect within previous societies, second-wave feminism critically explored the lived reality of women as mothers within our middle-class American society. Betty Friedan's influential The Feminine Mystique, published in 1965, indicted the deadly boredom of the suburban home, while later works such as Adrienne Rich's Of Woman Born, articulated with devastating incisiveness the oppressive qualities of the contemporary institution of motherhood

The “Yellow Wall-Paper” is a reflection of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s personal situations, regarding the protection of the rights of woman. She provides a critique on traditional feminine roles, and women’s desperation to get out of them. In the short story, the author depicts the idea that women conforming to the norms of society can be driven to destruction. Her criticism  of gender conflicts is portrayed through the journal entries of the narrator. In order to illustrate her feminist concerns

Suppression of Women through Isolation in The Feminine Mystique, Radicalesbians, and Trifles It is far easier to break the spirit of one human being than that of a united group of people. Betty Friedan’s "The Feminine Mystique", "Radicalesbians", and Susan Glaspell’s "Trifles" come to the same conclusion: isolation and separation caused women to be vulnerable to domination by male society. Social stigmatization by men, an inability to describe the situation, and a lack of personal identity kept

Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique The Feminine Mystique is the title of a book written by the late Betty Friedan who also founded The National Organization for Women (NOW) to help US women gain equal rights. She describes the "feminine mystique" as the heightened awareness of the expectations of women and how each woman has to fit a certain role as a little girl, an uneducated and unemployed teenager, and finally as a wife and mother who is happy to clean the house and cook things all

he did, and just got frustrated because they didn't understand themselves. He usually walked with his hands in his pockets, looking either up at the trees or down at the ground, but never focused at eye level. Somewhere in the process I adopted a feminine perspective on my character, very much a tomboy but also very much a woman. At two points in the show I took on other roles. . . in Act Two I played the minister at the wedding, which was a background character and not very distinct. Then, with

"Ani played a greater part in the life of the people than any other deity. She was the ultimate judge of morality and conduct" (Achebe 36). This quote may be surprising to the reader at first that men might worship a female goddess, but it fits with feminine roles in the Ibo society. Women are often entrusted with instilling morality in their children and governing their conduct. A female goddess will remind men to uphold their morals and mind their conduct, much the way a mother would her child. Again

Men have dictated how society perceives the female body for centuries. Women’s bodies are often put down by the patriarchy in order to maintain male dominance. Menstruation is one of the aspects of the female body that is considered defective. Although menstruation is a natural part of the reproductive system and should be considered sacred and divine, men have determined that periods are taboo and dirty. Due to this, women have been taught to keep their periods secret. Because menstruation is rarely

Code Red Position The unnecessary tax on feminine products make women spend an unbelievable amount each year, for simply being women. They spend enough as it is with the normal price of pads and tampons, but with a high tax in most states, it can become excessive. “...The tax ranges from 2.9 to 7.5 percent, according to the Tax Foundation”(Citing Gender Bias 3). With taxes that high, fifty cents or more can be added to each purchase. This may seem like a small amount, but over time it can add up

Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique and Sue Kaufman's Diary of a Mad Housewife Bettina Balser, the narrator of Sue Kaufman’s Diary of a Mad Housewife, is an attractive, intelligent woman living in an affluent community of New York City with her successful husband and her two charming children. She is also on the verge of insanity. Her various mental disorders, her wavering physical health, and her sexual promiscuity permeate her diary entries, and are interwoven among descriptions of the

Anna Livia Plurabelle: The Lost Truth of Feminine Subjectivity The oppressed, repressed, and impressed subjectivity of feminism finds a new opportunity to assert its true self against the stultifying atmosphere of modernism and identity-oriented crisis of postmodern ambience by appealing to the unique characterization of Anna Livia Plurabelle which frequently oscillates phallocentrism and proves the me'connaissance of male selfism and female-otherness to establish a new doctrine based on the

Betty Friedan's Feminine Mystique In Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan wrote about women's inequality from men to women's equality to men. She also wrote about women accepting the inequality to women fighting for equality. Friedan comes across to me as a woman with strong beliefs who puts a lot of effort and information in her book. I wasn't aware that this book would give such an extreme amount of information. Her writing style proves that she has been in a feminist movement. Her writing style shows

White is used as a demonstration of gender roles in a post modernistic work. Works Cited Barthelme, Donald. Snow White. New York: Atheneum, 1967. Print. "The Good Wife's Guide." Good Housekeeping 13 May 1955: n. pag. Print. Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: Norton, 1983. Print. ---. It Changed My Life: Writings on the Women's Movement. New York: Random House, 1976. Print. ---. The Second Stage. New York: Summit, 1981. Print

which produces as their creative "child" a bold treatise on the future of society (1473-74, 1494). Hedda's rivalry with Thea for power over Eilert is a conflict between Hedda's dominating intellect (symbolized by her pistols) and the traditionally feminine power of beauty and love (symbolized by Thea's long hair). Because Hedda lacks Thea's courage to leave her husband and risk ostracism, she tries to satisfy her intellect within society's constraints. First she seeks power through wealth and social