LÍNEAS DE FUERZA DE LO FANTÁSTICO EN LAS CREADORAS ESPAÑOLAS EN EL SIGLO XXI

Este estudio preliminar funciona como contextualización sintética de la sección monográfica, planteando las premisas iniciales y una fundamentación teórico-crítica. La pretensión es doble: plasmar la necesidad de defensa de la existencia de una tradición femenina en el ámbito de la literatura de lo irreal y sintetizar los aspectos esenciales que conviene considerar en el análisis de dicha creación en el siglo XXI, entre ellos el hibridismo genérico, la significación del espacio doméstico y corporal, la relevancia de las voces narradoras de mujer, el protagonismo femenino con una marcada agencia, el modo de abordar la monstruosidad, así como las perspectivas feministas y de compromiso social y político. Abstract: This preliminary study serves as a brief contextual framework of the following monographic section, including its cornerstones and a theoretical background. It has two goals: the claim of a female tradition in the field of unreal literature, and a synthesis of the essential aspects which must be taken into account in the analysis of this type of writing in the 21st Century, including genre hybridity, domestic and corporeal space signification, the relevance of women’s narrative, the prominence of female characters as agents, the ways in which monstrosity is tackled, as well as feminist, social and politically engagée perspectives.

Gender Roles in The Merchant of Venice and Othello

Literature enables authors to express various societal matters. Shakespeare provides a wide range of information from the Elizabethan era through his works. An important issue that is evident in his work is gender roles. The roles of characters, as described by Shakespeare, show social norms that define female and male genders. Female characters in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and Othello are underestimated because of the stereotypical gender roles. The roles involving female characters revolve around the homestead, unless where a female character is from a wealthy family, a queen or a princess. Male dominance in society implies that the Shakespearean era advocated for women discrimination.

Perpetuating Gender Bias in Children’s Cartoons: Portrayal of Female Characters in Shin Chan and Doraemon

This paper will study the portrayal of female characters in cartoons with special reference to Shin Chan and Doraemon. Through a feminist critique, the paper would discuss how gender bias is perpetuated through the gender roles assigned to the characters in these shows. Gender discrimination is perpetuated by such external factors and consolidated by the children’s communication with their friends and classmates. This paper endeavours to examine how different stereotypes of gender are pushed through the veil of “child entertainment” via the cartoons and how these issues can be addressed.

Gender in Literature: Crossing the Lines of Individuals in a Philippine Fiction

Under Gender Criticism, the researchers analysed Carlos Bulosan’s My Father Goes to Court to unveil the biases, stereotypes, issues, and tendencies as regard gender through the roles played by the characters in the story. Results show that on the surface, the male characters portrayed their roles based on what the society and culture accorded or dictated to them as authoritative, powerful, and dominant. Similarly, female characters were projected as powerless, weak, affective, and secondary to men. However, consciously or unconsciously, both characters crossed the borders and the lines of each other by performing roles not expected of them. On the one hand, male characters growled down to others, laughed their hearts out, and were protected. Then, on the other hand, female characters exercised power, showed leadership, manifested decision-making skills, and served as protectors. The researchers further revealed that gender is not a role to be played but an activity to be complete to avoid setting limits to any person’s tendencies. A study using the same literary text is recommended to continue its afterlife.

Gender Representation in Education: Critical Discourse Analysis of Urdu Textbooks used in Primary Government Schools in Punjab

This research aims to explore the gender equality or lack thereof in the Urdu textbooks taught in Punjab, Pakistan. Gender bias in textbooks is an important but almost invisible and overlooked problem. Five Urdu textbooks taught in primary government schools in Punjab were selected for critical discourse analysis. Both qualitative as well quantitative research methods were adopted. The number of female and male characters, portrayal of domestic and professional roles by both genders, and cosmetic bias was taken into account. In all five books analyzed, 28% characters were women whereas remaining were male characters. Female characters were mostly found in domestic situations with insignificant roles in the stories who did not have a name or an identity except being mothers. The text was highly biased towards the male characters associating valor and strength with men only. Since textbooks play a crucial role in the development of the children, it is important to remove the concealed gender bias in textbooks and acknowledge the changing roles of women in the Pakistani society in order to create a society that treats men and women equally.

Leśmian’s Dreaded Dryads and their Slavic contexts (literary and otherwise

Amongst other female characters within the literary works of Bolesław Leśmian, we can fi nd the dziwożony (dreaded dryads) – demons from Slavic mythology inhabiting wetlands or forests, which are considered malicious and dangerous, because they kidnap newborn children and replace them with their own offspring. These characters were presented as wild women with long hair and breasts so saggy that they would use them as washing paddles. Analyzing literary texts from the 19th and early 20th centuries written by Polish authors (Seweryn Goszczyński, Michał Bałucki, Miron [Aleksander Michaux], Maria Konopnicka, Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer, Wiktor Gomulicki), Czech (Karel Jaromír Erben) and Russian writers (Konstantin Balmont), I would like to show how the representations of these female demons have changed over time and how Bolesław Leśmian stylized them in the poem Dziwożona and in the prose fragment Podlasiak, from the volume Klechdy Polskie.

Resistance through Female Bonding in Tehmina Durrani's Blasphemy

The present research article analyses the suffering of women and their resistance against oppressive Islamic patriarchy through female bonding in Tehmina Durrani’s Blasphemy. In doing so, it offers the working definition of the term “feminism” as a tool of inquiry. It mainly focuses on the suffering of Heer, the protagonist of the novel, due to her loveless marriage with Pir Sain. It exposes the easy distortion of Islam by so-called hypocritical religious leaders like Pir Sain. The suffering of Heer and other female characters in the novel reveal the problems in the cultural and social setting of the Islamic culture and religion. Heer is repeatedly beaten, raped and humiliated by her abusive husband Pir. Pir forces her to live in the world that he has constructed for her. Her marriage with Pir utterly fails as it turns out to be a source of trouble and repression of her self-satisfaction. When she fails to tolerate severe torture and domestic violence, she decides to revolt against it. This paper concludes that Heer is able to resist sexual abuse and exploitation through female bonding. In doing so, she is able to assert her female selfhood.

Study of Feminism and Women's Existence in the Novel Bumi Manusia by Pramoedya Ananta Toer

Women are so close to idioms such as adversity, oppression, even to the "concept" that is already accepted by most people, that they are "objects" not "subjects" for men. Gender inequality is manifested in various forms of injustice that occur at various levels of society. This study aims to analyze the personality of the female characters, the gender injustice experienced by the female characters, and the value of character education contained in the novel Bumi Manusia by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. This study uses a qualitative descriptive technique. The object of this research is the meaning of the existence of women in the novel Bumi Manusia by Pramoedya Ananta Toer, a review of feminist literary criticism. The data in the research are in the form of dialogues, paragraphs, and narrations contained in the novel Bumi Manusia by Pramoedya Ananta Toer. Based on the results of the analysis and discussion, the data shows that the author describes several female characters who experience gender bias treatment, namely Nyai Ontosoroh, Annelies, Maiko, Min Hwa, and Sie-sie. The novel Bumi Manusia tends to use socialist feminism. Gender injustice experienced by female characters is the marginalization of women, subordination of women, stereotypes of women, violence against women, and double workload against women.

Development of the Alpha female character through habits based on Islamic education perspective

When women reach adolescence, they undergo psychological changes that affect their identity; thus, a woman must be able to instill positive values in order to develop a strong sense of self-worth. A woman with an Alpha female figure is depicted in the picture. This study aims to explain the figure of the Alpha female in Islamic female characters, as well as to examine the steps for a Muslim teenager to grow as such an Alpha female through habits. The paper analysis method was used in this study, and the documents used by the researcher were research materials from Henry's book; The Girl Guide, and Felix y Siauw’s; How to Master your Habits. A descriptive qualitative analysis was used to analyze the data. The results of the study indicate that developing the Alpha female through habits in the context of Islamic education can be accomplished by first, providing motivation to improve. Second, training and repetition of activities related to alpha female creation, such as alpha friend, alpha student, professional alpha, and alpha look. The Alpha Female required a third time and consistency to evolve. The fourth is to be an expert, namely being able to form habits, control habits, and dominate habits. The results of this study contribute to the material for a woman in an effort for better self-development.