Women Judge Women:Disagreement amongst Women about Women in Wendy Wasserstein’s The Heidi Chronicles

in British and American Language and Literature 117, 179-198. Wendy Wasserstein’s play The Heidi Chronicles appeared on Broadway in 1989, at the end of vehement second wave of feminism that prevailed during the 60’s, 70’s and up to the late 80’s, and at the beginning of the aftermath of the movement, labeled either post-feminism or the third wave. Presented to the public and critics at such a point of transition, the play sparked vigorous debate regarding its value as a “feminist” work of art. On the one hand, the play was welcomed as an introduction of feminism into mainstream theater, but on the other it was attacked for not being “subversive enough.” As the battleground of contesting feminist judgments, The Heidi Chronicles serves as a case study of the dynamics of women judging women and the impact of such judging on the actual lives of women. Specifically, we examine the history of how women judge women to be feminist or not, how such judgment can be confining as opposed to the liberation feminism as a whole aims for, and Wendy Wasserstein’s response to such judgment as a woman artist.