• Dhanya.R

As the feminist movement grew, feminist literature also gained momentum. Authors like Mary Wollstonecraft and John Stuart Mill spoke out against the oppression of women in various aspects of life. As the movement spread worldwide, feminists began to focus on how women were portrayed in literature, seeing it as a powerful tool for social change. Feminists argued that the idea of womanhood wasn’t something natural or biological, but rather something shaped by society. Women, they believed, were socialized into specific roles. Early feminist literature often responded to and challenged the negative stereotypes of women that were created by male writers and readers. These stereotypes had a strong impact on how men viewed women. Feminist literature moved from being passively engaged to more actively involved, realizing that women's voices had been suppressed in male-dominated literary traditions. This led to the creation of a new literary tradition led by women writers. This tradition was divided into three phases: the feminine phase, the feminist phase, and the female phase, each marking a different stage. Feminist critics also looked into the struggles women faced in writing and explored how women’s creativity was understood through post-structuralist ideas. By using post-structuralist, Marxist, and psychoanalytic methods, they studied what makes female creativity unique. They concluded that there are differences between male and female writers. They also analyzed how language is shaped and pointed out the male-centered focus in much of Western literature and criticism. Additionally, they began to look at the language style of women writers. Some of the feminist critics mentioned in this essay include Virginia Woolf, Julia Kristeva, Elaine Showalter, and Simone de Beauvoir.

Feminism, Gynocriticism, Sexuality, Feminist Criticism, Women’s Creativity, Phallocentric, Sexual Politics, Images of Women, Social Construct.

"Feminist Criticism and Its Influence on 20th Century Society", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 2, page no.f512-f514, February-2025, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2502572.pdf

"Feminist Criticism and Its Influence on 20th Century Society", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.12, Issue 2, page no. ppf512-f514, February-2025, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2502572.pdf