scholarly journals A Literary Exploration of Existential Feminism in the Novella The Moon Opera Through the Application of Intertextuality Theory

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Ruixi Yan
Keyword(s):  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Chinese Opera ◽  
Second Sex ◽  
Peking Opera ◽  
Second Wave Feminism ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
Second Wave

Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in the early 1960s in the western world, which focused on criticizing the patriarchal institutions or cultural practices throughout the society. Originating several centuries earlier, Chinese opera culture has been ahead of its time in demonstrating the male-dominated society’s oppression against women. As one of the principal founders of second-wave feminism, Simone de Beauvoir’s classical feminist theory in her book, The Second Sex, mainly introduced the sex-gender distinction. In this article, the author aims to reveal how Bi Feiyu, the writer of The Moon Opera, successfully conveyed existential feminist ideas, especially Beauvoir’s famous assertion that "one is not born but becomes a woman", through his careful selection of the art type Qing Yi (Qingyi is the main woman role in Peking Opera and often plays dignified, serious, and decent characters, which are mostly wives or mothers undergoing severe ordeal) and the portrayal of two generations of Qing Yi performers. In the process of analysis, the author not only examined Bi Feiyu’s application of intertextuality theory, but also derived conclusions from other mainstream feminist thoughts such as the feminist theory of the dressed female body and the transactional sex theory.

Beauvoir, Hegel, War

Hypatia ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 66-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meryl Altman
Keyword(s):  
Feminist Theory ◽  
The United States ◽  
Simone De Beauvoir ◽  
German Occupation ◽  
Avant Garde ◽  
Second Sex ◽  
Direct Exposure ◽  
Second Wave Feminism ◽  
Philosophical Texts ◽  
Second Wave

The importance of Hegel to the philosophy of Simone de Beauvoir, both to her early philosophical texts and to The Second Sex, is usually discussed in terms of the master-slave dialectic and a Kojève-influenced reading, which some see her as sharing with Sartre, others persuasively describe as divergent from and corrective to Sartre's. Altman shows that Hegel's influence on Beauvoir's work is also wider, both in terms of what she takes on board and what she works through and rejects, and that her reading of Hegel is crucially inflected by two additional circumstances that Sartre did not entirely share: the experience of her first serious study of Hegel as a noncombatant in Paris during the German occupation and her earlier direct exposure to an eccentric, idealist reading of Hegel as developed by the group Philosophies in connection with surrealism and the artistic avant-garde. Altman also explores the afterlife of Hegel's influence on Beauvoir on second-wave feminism in the United States and Europe, and suggests continuing relevance to feminist theory today.

scholarly journals Antisocial Feminism? Shulamith Firestone, Monique Wittig and Proto-Queer Theory

Paragraph ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 364-379
Author(s):  
Lisa Downing
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Feminist Theory ◽  
Queer Theory ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Monique Wittig ◽  
Second Wave Feminism ◽  
The Family ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Second Wave

Recent iterations of feminist theory and activism, especially intersectional, ‘third-wave’ feminism, have cast much second-wave feminism as politically unacceptable in failing to centre the experiences of less privileged subjects than the often white, often middle-class names with which the second wave is usually associated. While bearing those critiques in mind, this article argues that some second-wave writers, exemplified by Shulamith Firestone and Monique Wittig, may still offer valuable feminist perspectives if viewed through the anti-normative lens of queer theory. Queer resists the reification of identity categories. It focuses on resistance to hegemonic norms, rather than on group identity. By viewing Wittig's and Firestone's critique of the institutions of the family, reproduction, maternity, and work as proto-queer — and specifically proto-antisocial queer — it argues for a feminism that refuses to shore up identity, that rejects groupthink, and that articulates meaningfully the crucial place of the individual in the collective project of feminism.

‘[B]orn to make a real life, however it cracks your heart’:1 Creative women and daydreaming in Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels (2008)

2018 ◽  
pp. 133-158
Author(s):  
Emma V. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Literary Criticism ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Western World ◽  
Reading Groups ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
Second Sex ◽  
Gang Rape ◽  
Second Wave ◽  
Psychoanalytic Theories

Since its release in 2008 as a Young Adult (YA) text, Tender Morsels has been subject to widespread praise and censure. In reviews and reading groups it has been criticised by adults (including educators), as well its target audience of fourteen plus readers, for containing circumstances too challenging and traumatic for young readers; and with incestuous sexual abuse and gang rape in the first few pages it is easy to see why that has been the case. By juxtaposing the dominant psychoanalytic theories of literary criticism, with the fairytale retellings by feminist authors from the 1970s to the present time, as well as key second wave feminist texts like Simone de Beauvoir’s The Second Sex (1949) and Susan Brownmiller’s Against Our Will (1975), this novel can be seen to not only challenge the prevalence of a ‘real’ feminism in our literary criticism, but also in the Western world at large.

Carole King's Tapestry

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loren Glass
Keyword(s):  
Cultural History ◽  
Music Industry ◽  
Professional Autonomy ◽  
Male Dominance ◽  
Riot Grrrl ◽  
The Third ◽  
Women's Music ◽  
Second Wave Feminism ◽  
Historic Significance ◽  
Second Wave

Carole King’s Tapestry is both an anthemic embodiment of second-wave feminism and an apotheosis of the Laurel Canyon singer-songwriter sound and scene. And these two elements of the album’s historic significance are closely related insofar as the professional autonomy of the singer-songwriter is an expression of the freedom and independence women of King’s generation sought as the turbulent sixties came to a close. Aligning King’s own development from girl to woman with the larger shift in the music industry from teen-oriented singles by girl groups to albums by adult-oriented singer-songwriters, this volume situates Tapestry both within King’s original vision as the third in a trilogy (preceded by Now That Everything’s Been Said and Writer) and as a watershed in musical and cultural history, challenging the male dominance of the music and entertainment industries and laying the groundwork for female dominated genres such as women’s music and Riot Grrrl punk.

Sikh Women Diaspora in Malaysia: The Reality of their Role and Status in the Religious Domain

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charanjit Kaur ◽  
Sarjit S. Gill
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Daily Life ◽  
World View ◽  
Gender Ideology ◽  
Equal Importance ◽  
Two Generations ◽  
The Status ◽  
Gender Specific ◽  
Women’S Views

This article aims to examine how the Sikh women diaspora from two generations exercised their rights within the religious domain in Malaysia. Sikhism has a unique world view of gender ideology; from a gender perspective, God is symbolically described as a husband to all of humanity, whereby all humans, irrespective of gender, are perceived as having the status of wives to God. Since the Sikh religion focuses on the concept of the spirit rather than the physical body; therefore, the position of God and mankind should be cognized from the viewpoint of transformation of spirit. Most significantly, every human being, be they male or female, is held in equal importance, with each individual being conferred the same position, status, rights and opportunity to live this life as God has ordained. In fact, tenets of life that define practices as being praiseworthy, or to be avoided, are not gender specific. This makes the philosophy of gender equality of the Sikh religion particularly interesting and worthy of academic scrutiny. To what extent is it true that women have equal status with men? The authors discovered that patriarchal cultural practices have clearly dominated Sikh women’s views about their roles in daily life, as well as in the perception of their own status. This article concludes with specific recommendations to uplift and strengthen gender equality among the Sikh community in the religious domain.

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