Elaine Showalter is an American literary critic and feminist who is associated with the feminist concept of gynocriticism. Gynocriticism is a school of feminist criticism that studies women as writers and the literature they produce.
Showalter coined the term "gynocriticism" in the 1970s.
Gynocriticism is concerned with the history, themes, genres, and structures of women's literature.
It also studies the psychodynamics of female creativity and the evolution of female literary traditions.
Gynocriticism seeks to develop new models for literary analysis based on female experience.
Showalter's work influenced feminist literary criticism in the United States.