GYNOCENTRISM (derived from the Greek gyno, meaning "woman," and kentron, meaning "center") is a radical feminist discourse that champions woman-centered beliefs, identities, and social organization. It also challenges the androcentric promotion of masculine standards as normative, and the presentation of those standards as neutral rather than gendered. Consequently, from a gynocentric perspective, the assumption of masculine-neutral norms has meant that femininity has traditionally been presented as deficient, secondary, and lacking. Gynocentric feminism is concerned, therefore, to revalue sexual difference and femininity positively.

Theories of Gynocentrism

The literary scholar Elaine Showalter was one of the first feminists to develop a systematic program that was critical of the androcentrism of mainstream literary studies and that sought instead to illuminate the "subculture" of women writers and readers. She coined the term gynocritics to refer to this project, suggesting in her article "Towards a Feminist Poetics" (1986) that:

The program of gynocritics...