Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of gender discrimination.

Chapter 4 Summary and Analysis: “Feminist Criticism”

The chapter opens with a definition of feminists as those “opposed to sexism—the belief that women are innately inferior to men” (70). Tyson critiques the overly simplified popular understandings of feminists and their positions on issues, clarifying why feminist arguments matter. She points to the feminist objection over the use of the “universal he (also called the generic he or the neutral he)” (71), arguing that feminists are correct in confronting this language convention because the masculine does not necessarily represent the views of people of other genders. This patriarchal view has negative implications for inclusion across domains, including in cinema, literature, and medicine.

Traditional Gender Roles

Tyson opens with a brief definition of traditional or patriarchal gender roles, or the idea that men have one inherent set of characteristics (like “rational, strong, protective,” etc.) and women have another (like “weak, nurturing, and submissive”; 72). These traditional gender roles are sexist. Feminists reject traditional biological essentialist understandings of gender and instead see gender as socially constructed, meaning that gender roles are created and perpetuated by society. Traditional gender roles are destructive for both men and women in that they obligate people to adhere to damaging gender stereotypes.