Toril Moi - Sexual Textual Politics

Toril Moi, Sexual Textual Politics: Feminist literary criticism, 1985, Routledge, London

p43  No literary criticism is value-free.  We each speak from a specific position shopped by cultural, social, political and personal factors.  To claim otherwise is authoritarian and manipulative (i.e. male!).

We are usually blind to our horizon of understanding. Therefore we need to interact with people who are different to us to explore our boundaries of thought and comprehension.

Literary works should provide role models, install positive feminine identity by portraying women who are 'self actualising and whose identities are not dependent on men'.  Martin Wendy 1970" The feminine mystique in American Fiction" in House, Florence (ed) Female Studies 11 Pittsburgh: KNOW.

Creativity was defined as male:

Feminine 1840s.  Male pseudonyms. Imitation and internalisation of male standards and social rules.
Feminist 1880-1920 Protest re standards and values.  Demand for autonomy.
Female 1920 +.  Self discovery.  Turn inward for freedom and search for identity.

Monster woman - refuses selflessness.  Uses own initiative, has a story to tell. Not submissive.  Female self definition complicated by patriarchal definitions.