Feminism taken to the extreme in a streetcar called misogyny While women's studies programs are multiplying in American universities, feminists of certain classic authors provide us with the most absurd interpretations. texts by these authors. A typical example is Kathleen Margaret Lant's interpretation of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire in her essay "A Streetcar Named Misogyny." Throughout the essay, she continually misinterprets Williams' intention, which of course leads her to misunderstand the play itself. Affirming that the play "proved vexing to the public, directors, actors, readers and critics" (Lant 227), she fails to see that it is herself who finds the play vexing, because it does not fit well with distorted feminist discourse. structure that she would try to impose on him. Her first problem concerns the play's heroine, Blanche DuBois, who, she asserts, is "ironically made guilty of her own victimization." This is vile about women. Blanche cannot therefore claim tragic stature or even our sympathy precisely because she is the victim of rape. And while she becomes responsible for her own victimization, Stanley sees his ascendancy glorified. arises from the misogyny that colors the play..." (Lant 226). Certainly, Blanche flirts briefly with Stanley at the beginning of the play, just as many women flirt playfully with their brothers-in-law. But as her relationship with Stanley deteriorates, she makes it clear to him that she hates the sight of him Although the world Lant lives in may be one in which a woman, playfully spraying her brother-in-law......in the middle of. a paper......trying to examine his work and judge it, Lant failed to grasp the fact that Williams was simply depicting society as he saw it and as he experienced it, without no restrictions. Brownmiller, Susan. Against Our Will. New York: Bantam Books, 1975. New York: The Free Press, 1087. Kathleen Margaret. 238 in REDMOND, James (editor). 1991. Spoto, Donald. The kindness of strangers. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1985. Williams, Edwina Dakin. Remember me to Tom. St. Louis: Sunrise Publishing Company, 1963. Williams, Tennessee. Memoirs. New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc: 1975. Williams, Tennessee. A tram named Désir. New York: Signet. Original copyright 1947.