Feminism and Literature

By drkevin

Wed, 05 Aug 2026
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3 comments
 

This is just an idle observation, but possibly one worth making. It's obvious that great strides have been made towards gender equality during the twentieth century, and the emergence of female writers is one of them. I sometimes wonder, however, if the central female characters within modern novels are similarly liberated.

Although there are many exceptions, I read time and again of modern women acting like seventeenth century damsels in distress. Perhaps other readers have noticed this peculiar inconsistency?

With curious anachronism, many of these apparently feisty and intelligent ladies inexplicably lapse into old fashioned stereotypes of helplessness, feebleness and accident proneness. They invariably trip over everything in sight when running, their minds go blank with shock, they either stand speechless or they run for the toilet to be sick. Faces are often white with approaching faintness, or bright red with all-consuming embarrassment. Muscular well dressed men invariably save the day with sensitive macho interventions, to complete the odd trip back in fictional time. 

I suppose what I'm getting at is the suspicion that these old sexual stereotypes, are still convenient devices for spinning a yarn, even though times have very much moved on. Many of the novels I'm thinking of actually involve contemporary story lines.

Just a viewpoint!

 

 

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Submitted by GlosKat on

Hi Dr Kevin 

Could I comment on the phrase ' great strides have been made towards gender equality during the twentieth century, and the emergence of female writers is one of them'.

I would like to say that there were very well known, and financially successful, female novelists during the 18th and 19th century.  Here's a list of some of my favourites which are just a few of the many :

18th Century : 

Maria Edgeworth

Ann Radcliffe (the mother of the Gothic novel)

Fanny Burney

 

19th Century : 

Mary Shelley

Jane Austen

Elizabeth Gaskell (drew notice to terrible social inequalities)

The Bronte sisters

George Eliot

Louisa May Alcott

 

 

Submitted by drkevin on

Hi there. Thanks very much for your comment. Yes, it's certainly true that female writers existed before the 20th century, but it seems that many felt that publishers and the public would be more receptive if they wrote with male pseudonyms (e.g. George Elliot and the Brontes). I think the point I was trying to make was that the writing environment has gradually improved alongside political emancipation and yet some of the fictional characters in contemporary novels still seem to be unnecessary stereotypes of the past. 

It's certainly more interesting when roles are reversed. I remember reading a Sherlock Holmes reinterpretation story where he married an American lady much brighter  than he was! Thanks again.

 

 

Submitted by GlosKat on

I certainly agreed with much of what you were saying.  The improvement in women's financial independence generally during the twentieth century enabled them to take up careers including writing, which would previously have only been available to women from relatively well off families  (I think it's interesting to note how many women writers of the 19th century were the daughters of clergymen – Austen, Gaskell and the Brontës for starters.) 

I work in the book section of a charity shop, and also in the local library. Many of the books I see are 'chick-lit' formulaic novels in which a feisty and intelligent woman (also pretty of course) falls for some square-jawed hunk, against her initial antipathy, who in some sort of way rescues her.  I can't see the attraction myself, but these books are tremendously popular and obviously satisfy a need for romantic fantasy. 

An interesting and thought provoking article, thank you !