Discuss the significance of one’s social location to their experience with not just literature but everyday life and society.

1200 word essay on Feminist Theories

OR

800 word essay + Playlist of four songs with a short explanation of why you chose each song

You can start with 2-3 core texts: A Room of One’s Own (or the slide show on the book from class), Solnit’s work (“Grandmother Spider” and “Men Explain Things to Me”), Adichie’s TED talk and book, We Should All Be Feminists, or Crenshaw’s concept of intersectionality as applied to feminism. You can also use any of the summer reading books, Aphra Behn, Austen or Bronte; or the #metoo or #YesAllWomen movements.

Where do the ideas in the core texts you’ve chosen to work with intersect with your idea on feminist theory or feminism in action? The essay can have a reflective aspect–you can use first person pronouns. You must use 4-5 quotes in your essay from these sources to support your thoughts and ideas.

MLA format (12’Times New Roman Font, double- spaced, 1″ margins, MLA header, MLA style in-text citations– and don’t forget your Works Cited page!)

This is an individual work assignment

Topics:

Consider the connection between the concept of Mansplaining or silencing of women as Solnit discusses in “Men Explain Things to Me”/”Grandmother Spider” and Virginia Woolf’s Looking Glass theory from A Room of One’s Own.

Consider the connection between Solnit’s “Grandmother Spider” and her discussion of the invisibility/erasure of women in the example of the family tree AND Virginia Woolf’s discussion on the lack of female names on the spines of history and literature books–but their overwhelming presence as characters in history and literature.

Consider Woolf’s discussion of the fact that women have been denied the base (economics and education) and compare it to what Adichie says about the same concept. How does Crenshaw’s theory of intersectional feminism also connect to Woolf’s and Adichie’s works?

Choose an idea of Woolf’s that you see discussed in Adichie, Solnit and Crenshaw and discuss why you think it is still relevant today, even though A Room of One’s Own was written almost 100 years ago.

How do you think people are summoning the spirit of Judith Shakespeare today, as Woolf entreats us to do at the end of A Room of One’s Own? In which other works that we have discussed so far do you see people working, even in poverty and obscurity, to change the societal power paradigm?

Woolf writes that a woman must have money and a room of her own in order to write fiction. How does she explicate this thesis throughout A Room of One’s Own? How does this connect with Adichie’s ideas in We Should All Be Feminists? How does it connect to the concepts explored in intersectional feminism?

Woolf talks about her friend Z, who, upon reading the work of Ms. West, calls her an “arrant feminist.” Adichie also talks about feminist being a loaded term that can mean different things to different people (which can make one consider having to clarify and qualify using the term). Please explore this, maybe even tying in some ideas from your project and our class discussion around the word.

Male anger and male entitlement hurts people of all genders. Where do you see this idea in Adichie, Woolf, and/or Solnit?

Write about Woolf’s discussion on the mental note in the margin of the private mind (or as I called it, the “post-it theory”) and how that relates to genius and success, internalized misogyny, “girl world” and the Looking Glass theory. Does it connect to the concept of stereotype threat?

Adichie uses the word “emasculation” in her book We Should All Be Feminists, and though she admits she does not like the term, the concept is significant to her argument. The concept also runs through Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, especially with regard to the Looking Glass Theory. Please reflect on what these two writers and thinkers are arguing regarding the power dynamic in society and the fear of “emasculation” inherent in efforts to change it.

Tradition plays an important role in maintaining and perpetuating social systems. Explore this idea through the works of Solnit, Adichie, Woolf and Crenshaw. How can tradition be beneficial? How can it be harmful? What can be done to change traditions that exclude people or violate people’s rights? Use specific examples from each writer’s argument to support your own thoughts.

Discuss the significance of one’s social location to their experience with not just literature but everyday life and society. Use examples from 2-3 texts. Why is thinking about feminist lenses more accurate and inclusive than The Feminist Lens?

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