She Took Part in the Feminist Movements of the 1960 S and Is an Acclaimed Feminist, However

MARGARET ATWOOD

·  Margaret Atwood was a Canadian poet, novelist, and critic, noted for her feminism and mythological themes.

·  She took part in the feminist movements of the 1960’s and is an acclaimed feminist, however she is not an extremist and criticises the extremism of feminism.

·  Born in 1939, Atwood from an early age had an extensive education which developed her desire to pursue a career in writing despite the traditional gender roles of her era.

·  She made significant contribution to the feminist movement through her wide collection of poems, novels, essays and speeches.

·  Her most renowned works include the novels; ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ and ‘The Edible Women.’

·  Other works include;

·  Her feminist works? underpinned the movement of the 1960’s due to the success of her writings.

·  She gave the speech Spotty-Handed Villainesses in a number of venues in l994.

·  It is not composed so much as a formal speech, but as an informal presentation to her audiences of some of her concerns about the portrayal of women in contemporary literature.

·  The assumed audiences for this colloquial speech are university students/academic/publishing audience who are able to respond to the many literary allusions.

·  Her audiences were aware of contemporary movements in society, particularly the feminist view of the position of women in life and in art.

·  Atwood was a part of the third wave of feminism which was a complex movement and embraced contradictions, conflict and irrationality and attempts to accommodate diversity and change.

·  This movement aimed to show sexuality in a positive light and the depiction of women as an equal part of society.

·  This was displayed through altering the way women were viewed in popular culture and literature.

·  This movement sought to address the issues of derogatory language becoming part of everyday speech.

·  This movement was less focused on the equal rights for women and more on the equal perception of women in society.

·  The third wave came about as a response to the second wave of feminism and sought to amend more philosophical issues which lingered due to previous movements.