A Study Of Feminist Translation

Since the ancient times, men have played a dominated role in the production of human society and in many other social activities. Therefore, women have become secondary and lost their proper seats in history. Therefore, there appeared feminist movement in Europe and America in 1960s, which were under the influence of French philosopher Jacques Derrida's deconstructionism that advocated anti-authority, anti-ration and anti-tradition. The initial goal of feminist movement was to fight for legal property rights, the right to vote and the educational right for women. However, with its development, it gradually turned to a deeper level which was opposed to all cultural hegemony. There were three main stages during the development of feminist movement:the first stage was from the end of 19th century to the early of 20th century; the second stage was from 1960s to 1970s and the third stage was from 1970s to now. What's more, it was in the May Fourth Movement that feminism spread into China, and although the development of feminism in China had an upsurge to a certain degree, it was still relatively slow.Feminists tried to deconstruct or subvert the traditional value system of political, religious, cultural, language, art and many other areas in the process of feminist movement. They believed that women's liberation must begin from language. After they got progress in the elimination of gender discrimination, their focus was quickly turned to the field of translation.Feminist translation is a result of western feminist movement, which has obvious rebellion and political tendencies. It takes striving for dignity and equality for women as a starting point and denies patriarchal ideology. Feminist translators borrow Derrida's deconstructionism theory, making many traditional concepts or value systems in the field of translation deconstructed or subverted, such as loyalty concept, the ultimate authority of the original meaning and so on. Feminist translation practice has caused enormous impact and challenges on the traditional concept of translation, and feminist translation theory has put forward its own unique theories, with the essence of adhering to a political consciousness and constructing women's unique identity through translation strategies. Although feminist translation theory has made great contributions to the theory of translation, its shortcomings still cannot be ignored, for example, there are too many schools of feminism and their views are too radical, etc.As feminism is developing slowly in China, and there still exists the feudal patriarchal ideology which has been lasted for thousands of years, the author hopes that through systematic introductions on the development of feminism, the genres of feminism, feminist translation theory/practice and the advantages/disadvantages of feminist theory, this thesis can make contributions to appeal for society to improve women's social status to a certain degree.