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Futility of Feminist Aspirations in Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls: A Postfeminist Reading

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Last updated: 04 Jan 2025

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Abstract

Top Girls (1982) is a controversial play which calls Caryl Churchill's stance as a feminist into question. The present paper examines the play through the theoretical perspective of postfeminism, which advocates primary feminist goals but challenges some dominant feminist discourses, especially those pertaining to the binary structures of second-wave feminism. With its bleak delineation of the character of Marlene, the play explores the dangers of seeking women empowerment by espousing masculine qualities, adopting an anti-family attitude, and paying no heed to the suffering of fellow women. Investigating the polarization of characters based on their gender, race, class, or religion, and the dilemma of choosing between career success and family stability, the paper highlights the need for an egalitarian family-friendly feminism based on a real sense of sisterhood among women.

DOI

10.21608/ejels.2017.134018

Keywords

second-wave feminism, postfeminism, Women Empowerment, espousing/rejecting masculine qualities, Caryl Churchill, marginalized women, sisterhood

Authors

First Name

Marwa Ramadan

Last Name

Ramadan

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Orcid

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Volume

8

Article Issue

1

Related Issue

18460

Issue Date

2017-12-01

Receive Date

2020-12-31

Publish Date

2017-12-01

Page Start

235

Page End

266

Print ISSN

2735-4431

Online ISSN

2735-4830

Link

https://ejels.journals.ekb.eg/article_134018.html

Detail API

https://ejels.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=134018

Order

7

Type

Scientific Articles

Type Code

1,594

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Egyptian Journal of English Language and Literature Studies

Publication Link

https://ejels.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Futility of Feminist Aspirations in Caryl Churchill’s Top Girls: A Postfeminist Reading

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Article

Created At

23 Jan 2023