Blackwell Reference Online

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Writing in 1986 an essay on feminist literary theory, Toril Moi concludes: [W]e can now define as female , writing by women, bearing in mind that this label does not say anything at all about the nature of that writing; as feminist , writing which takes a discernible anti-patriarchal and anti-sexist position; and as feminine , writing which seems to be marginalised (repressed, silenced) by the ruling social/linguistic order. (1986: 220) These definitions, useful and widely held as they have been, nevertheless generate queries, as Moi herself realizes. For instance, she points out that we cannot presume that female writing—that is, writing by women—is necessarily feminist writing. There are many women writers who are indifferent to feminism and, indeed, a tradition of women making lucrative livings out of castigating other women. Occasionally, despite all evidence to the contrary, the most unlikely women are reclaimed for feminism. Thus, at a conference at the University of London in 1999, Elaine Showaiter commended Natasha Walter's description of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as an unsung heroine of British feminism and was greeted by a chorus of gasps from her audience. One quakes at the thought of the collected works of Margaret Thatcher featuring on future bibliographies of British feminism alongside Mary Wollstonecraft, the Pankhursts and Virginia Woolf. ... log in or subscribe to read full text