According to Joanna Russ, women writers have been limited by the male culture in the sense that our literature is “by men and about men” (Russ 81). Literature is written from a male point of view, and since female literature is less dominant than male literature, the result is that literature is limited in our culture to being relatable only to the male. Because of this, there are restrictions as to what women can write. Russ believes that women have been restricted to the love story, how a heroine goes mad, or just restricted to sticking to the “male myths with male protagonists” (Russ 85). The problem with this is how limiting it is to the female author, and ultimately unfair. There can be no true heroines, according to Russ, because any woman who tries to assume some authoritative role and preside over the male will always be considered “the Bitch Goddess” (Russ 82).
Russ has a solution. Women need to write lyricism (such as an epic or poetry) and about life (Russ 87). She also goes on to say that certain myths our culture upholds are out of date and not transferrable to all cultures or less dominant groups of people. Russ states that, “perhaps current fictional myths no longer tell the truth about any of us” (Russ 92). She ends her article by encouraging women to write and change the current clichés that society thinks about women and women’s literature. Change the myths and we will change the culture.
While Russ believes women should write poems and about life, Cixous and Lorde argue that women should write about women to women. Cixous wants women to write about their life as women, sharing only things that other women can relate to. Women should “proclaim this unique empire so that other women, other unacknowledged sovereigns, might exclaim: I, too, overflow; my desires have invented new desires…”(Cixous 321). Meaning that the more women write, the more other women will realize that they, too, have something worth saying. Lorde, also, encourages women to write, stating that, “there are no new ideas” being brought forth within the world, but women should still pursue “new possibilities and strengths” (Lorde 39).
Gilman and Jackson respond to the “myths of male culture” by writing. They write about the women’s view of life. They write on how they are dismissed when they say that they are sick, how they are dismissed when they proclaim that something is not fair, and how the male cultures believes that they are not smart enough to have an opinion about their health or the affairs of local government. The ways in which they uphold certain myths are in the ways they portray the women as enable to rise above their circumstances. Their characters are too mental to stand up to their husband, or too entrapped by society to prevent their own death.
Russ has a solution. Women need to write lyricism (such as an epic or poetry) and about life (Russ 87). She also goes on to say that certain myths our culture upholds are out of date and not transferrable to all cultures or less dominant groups of people. Russ states that, “perhaps current fictional myths no longer tell the truth about any of us” (Russ 92). She ends her article by encouraging women to write and change the current clichés that society thinks about women and women’s literature. Change the myths and we will change the culture.
While Russ believes women should write poems and about life, Cixous and Lorde argue that women should write about women to women. Cixous wants women to write about their life as women, sharing only things that other women can relate to. Women should “proclaim this unique empire so that other women, other unacknowledged sovereigns, might exclaim: I, too, overflow; my desires have invented new desires…”(Cixous 321). Meaning that the more women write, the more other women will realize that they, too, have something worth saying. Lorde, also, encourages women to write, stating that, “there are no new ideas” being brought forth within the world, but women should still pursue “new possibilities and strengths” (Lorde 39).
Gilman and Jackson respond to the “myths of male culture” by writing. They write about the women’s view of life. They write on how they are dismissed when they say that they are sick, how they are dismissed when they proclaim that something is not fair, and how the male cultures believes that they are not smart enough to have an opinion about their health or the affairs of local government. The ways in which they uphold certain myths are in the ways they portray the women as enable to rise above their circumstances. Their characters are too mental to stand up to their husband, or too entrapped by society to prevent their own death.
“The Laugh of the Madusa” by Helen Cixous
“Poetry Is Not a Luxery” by Audre Lorde
“What Can a Heroine Do? Or Why Women Can’t Write?” by Joanna Russ
“What Can a Heroine Do? Or Why Women Can’t Write?” by Joanna Russ
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