Female precursors

Gilbert and Gubar talk about a somewhat sensitive aspect of their theory of what inspires a female writer to write in the form that she does when they talk about the male and female disconnect in each genders battle with "anxiety of influence (p.450)" touched on throughout the reading. When discussing what is different from the male's anxiety, the two authors write, "Her battle however is not against her male precursor's reading of the world but against his reading of her. In order to define herself as an author, she must redefine the terms of her socialization (p.452). It was difficult for me to try and empathize truly with this theory being that I am of the male perspective in this situation, but I did find this particular section of the text rather interesting. Women writers want men to change the way that they perceive women battling against the same anxiety of influence that the male writers are. Women want men to know that their anxiety and struggle stems from a different source. Is it really a good thing for women writers to choose to use the influence that they find in female precursors?

It seems that what women find when using female precursors in their writing doesn't seem extremely positive in any case. The two terms used to describe the nature of the feminine precursors are "disease and dis-ease(p.458)." Obviously, using these female precursors has been an extremely successful move by female writers as readers are able to experience the pain and discomfort that the patriarchal world has made the basis of femininity. Yes, men have noticed the distinctions between male and female precursors because of this effort, but does this cause a change? It seems as this may possibly reaffirm negative notions about what being a female in society means. Yes, men can see the disease and dis-ease, but do they care? Is this still how female writers write dating back to the nineteenth century? That doesn't seem to show that progress is being made. Female writers could recognize these precursors, address them in their writing, and then work against them to illustrate the change being made. That also seems like the best way for a female writer to work against her own anxiety of influence and write something original. Again, it's difficult for me to feel sure about a theory such as this, so I might be way off base with how other female writers feel.