Context Flashcards
Title
- A gospel is am account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
- They are historically accurate but some claim that they are more metaphorical than literal truth.
- Duffy’s intention to create a truthful account of female experience and signal the need for change.
1960s feminism
began to challenge the limitations placed upon women, and there was a feeling among educated women that anything was possible
women began making careers for themselves
challenging the traditional view that the role of the woman was to be in the home
1960s sexual revolution
introduction of the contraceptive pill meant that women could have sex without fear of pregnancy
male homosexuality became legal for the first time
Radical feminist thinking
sought to challenge patriarchal attitudes
challenged the idea that they had to turn themselves into sex symbols for men - they cut their hair short, stopped shaving and burned their bras
Ecriture feminine
many writers sought to establish a distinctly female form of writing
invents new techniques to oppose traditional writing prejudices
response to the idea that our language embodies many patriarchal prejudices
Thatcher and capitalism
Thatcher’s capitalist culture (according to Duffy) was detrimental to minority groups such as women and those from deprived backgrounds
the wage gap between the rich and poor widened significantly in the Thatcher era
Thatcher was seen as anti-feminist - for e.g. she did not promote any women to her cabinet
Impact of media on women
rising influence of the media is often blamed for creating a huge amount of pressure on young women leading to anxiety and other mental illness
‘airbrushing’ culture leads to self esteem problems
in the last 15 years eating disorders have doubled and the fact that rates of depression in women and girls have doubled between 2000 and 2010
Female identity
Female identity is the societal normalities constructed that assume stereotypes about women.
Carol Ann Duffy
Her mother would often invent fairy tales for her, a common theme in Duffy’s writing (which often explores and manipulates feminine archetypes).
Always an avid reader, Duffy recalls reading Alice in Wonderland aged seven and writing a poem to continue the story as she was sad that it had ended.
She was appointed Britain’s Poet Laurate in May 2009 and is the first woman, and the first openly LGBT person to hold this position
Laugh of the Medusa
In the text, Cixous advocates heavily for the idea that women need to write. She claims that there is a very close relationship between women’s bodies and their writing and that both have been repressed by men for centuries. For Cixous, women beginning to write would also be the beginning of them reclaiming their voices and their bodies.
I wished that that woman would write and proclaim this unique empire so that other women, other unacknowledged sovereigns, might exclaim
Female Eunuch
Greer’s thesis is that the “traditional” suburban, consumerist, nuclear family represses women sexually, and that this devitalises them, rendering them eunuchs.
Feminine Mystique
problem with no name
marriage and children seen as norm and biological destiny
appearance is relayed to their size (power)
identity is diminished by role
Second Sex
the author discusses the treatment of women throughout history.
one is not born, but becomes, a woman
Jouissance
The French feminist writer Hélène Cixous uses the term jouissance to describe a form of women’s pleasure or sexual rapture that combines mental, physical and spiritual aspects of female experience, bordering on mystical communion: “explosion, diffusion, effervescence, abundance…takes pleasure (jouit) in being limitless”
Other feminists have argued that Freudian “hysteria” is jouissance distorted by patriarchal culture and say that jouissance is a transcendent state that represents freedom from oppressive linearities.
