Agh, i have a whole slew of other work to do, and cannot take the time to delve into this now (have bookmarked it though!)
A few quick responses: in years of being on feminist sf lists and seeing huge debates over what makes a work "feminist," I've come to the conclusion that anybody who tries to argue that "it" whatever it is cannot be solely in the text (or perhaps even largely in the text), because there is so much that is contextual, including the reader and her/his historical context.
And context inescapably include the relative social privileges/powers of the readers (which is why I like the idea of a gaze from within the community of women which is not saying that all women are equal, far from it, but does remove male privilege).
It would be a lot easier to do what pure formalism theorized doing (just look at elements of the text and "scientifically" prove some argument) but that effort failed (and its failure is shown in the changes in the academic disciplines relating to text analysis).
And I need to note eternal search for bisexual slash/erotics in fan fiction (not many out there, sigh).
I am currently working on a paper where I am writing about my queering of Éowyn (covering among other things, my proto-femininist reading of her as a totally cool awesome character and my dislike of the marriage ending when I was age 10, against all Tolkien's stated intentions and even textual proof if you read "with the grain" of the novel, and my adult reading of her when I came back to it as a feminist and queer--and I attribute some of my development into feminist/queer/pagan to LOTR!) and realized I now want to write a G story about Ioreth tending her in th Houses of Healing (Ioreth is there when they heal Faramir but is not--in the sense of being referred to or speaking!--when they heal Éowyn!). Part of what is lacking (understandably) in Tolkien's work is any sense of a community of women (that's an ongoing issue for femslashers--it's not enough to have the one strong woman early feminist critics sometimes thought sufficient--it's the need for a whole world of women who have a whole world of relationships!).
no subject
A few quick responses: in years of being on feminist sf lists and seeing huge debates over what makes a work "feminist," I've come to the conclusion that anybody who tries to argue that "it" whatever it is cannot be solely in the text (or perhaps even largely in the text), because there is so much that is contextual, including the reader and her/his historical context.
And context inescapably include the relative social privileges/powers of the readers (which is why I like the idea of a gaze from within the community of women which is not saying that all women are equal, far from it, but does remove male privilege).
It would be a lot easier to do what pure formalism theorized doing (just look at elements of the text and "scientifically" prove some argument) but that effort failed (and its failure is shown in the changes in the academic disciplines relating to text analysis).
And I need to note eternal search for bisexual slash/erotics in fan fiction (not many out there, sigh).
I am currently working on a paper where I am writing about my queering of Éowyn (covering among other things, my proto-femininist reading of her as a totally cool awesome character and my dislike of the marriage ending when I was age 10, against all Tolkien's stated intentions and even textual proof if you read "with the grain" of the novel, and my adult reading of her when I came back to it as a feminist and queer--and I attribute some of my development into feminist/queer/pagan to LOTR!) and realized I now want to write a G story about Ioreth tending her in th Houses of Healing (Ioreth is there when they heal Faramir but is not--in the sense of being referred to or speaking!--when they heal Éowyn!). Part of what is lacking (understandably) in Tolkien's work is any sense of a community of women (that's an ongoing issue for femslashers--it's not enough to have the one strong woman early feminist critics sometimes thought sufficient--it's the need for a whole world of women who have a whole world of relationships!).
Erm, sorry, but this is all so fascinating.....