Existential feminism in Rintik Sedu’s short stories: Female subjectivity, freedom, and the search for authentic selfhood

Journal of Language, Literature, Social, and Cultural Studies, Volume 4 Number 1 (Mar 2026), p. 39-51 e-ISSN: 2986-4461 DOI: https://doi.org/10.58881/jllscs.v2i2 https://ympn.co.id/index.php/JLLSCS Existential feminism in Rintik Sedu’s short stories: Female subjectivity, freedom, and the search for authentic selfhood Nafa Adelia Satya Pradani1, Annisa Ramadhani Wachid2, Zahra Amanda Putri4, Mutiara Ayu Cahyaningtyas1, Santi Dwi Kusuma5, Krisandra Pangestika6, Laela Febiani7 , Onok Yayang Pamungkas8 University of Muhammadiyah Purwokerto, INDONESIA1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 1Email: 2Email: Abstract - This study aims to analyse the representation of existentialist feminism Simone de Beauvoir in a collection of digital short stories by Rintik Sedu published through the Rintiksedu.com website. This research uses a qualitative paradigm with a hermeneutic approach to interpret the meaning of literary texts. The source of the research data is six digital short stories by Rintik Sedu, namely No Answer is the Answer, Our Parts, Dialogue at that time, Limits, Between Us Pt.1&2, and I Write This Because I Am Afraid of Forgetting. The research data is in the form of words, sentences, and discourses that represent the existence of women and efforts to achieve existential freedom. The results of the study show that the existence of women in these short stories is represented through three categories: existence based on nature that describes the social construction of women's patience and sacrifice; existence based on history that shows the awareness of female figures to break the inheritance of previous generations' habits; and existence based on myths that question romantic and patriarchal stereotypes in interpersonal relationships. Women's efforts to achieve authentic existence are manifested through two strategies: rejecting the position of the "other" by affirming agency and personal freedom, and strategically accepting social expectations to gain space to move within patriarchal structures. This study concludes that digital literary works can serve as an important medium in representing women's struggle to achieve existential freedom and dismantling the social constructs that limit their authentic existence. Keywords: existentialist feminism, Simone de Beauvoir, digital short stories, women's existence, Rintik Sedu 1. Introduction Literary works are a form of language expression that is full of reflections of life and the reality of humanity. Asia et al. (2025) stated that literature is a way to apply one's ideas that can improve the circumstances and conditions around them. Pramudyaseta and Azmin (2021) stated that literary works are linguistic arts that display beauty while containing social reality. These two elements can be conveyed directly or implicitly, according to the way the author uses language This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) 39 Journal of Language, Literature, Social, and Cultural Studies, Volume 4 Number 1 (Mar 2026), p. 39-51 e-ISSN: 2986-4461 DOI: https://doi.org/10.58881/jllscs.v2i2 https://ympn.co.id/index.php/JLLSCS in his work. On the other hand, Aryanti and Ramdani, (2023) stated that literature can be defined as art that uses language as its medium, has a creative nature, and contains strong elements of imagination. In addition, Ramdhani (2022) revealed that bringing literature is an individual expression that includes experiences, emotions, thoughts, ideas, passions, and beliefs conveyed in a clear and concrete form, able to trigger attraction using language. From that, Yulianti et al. (2021) stated that literary works are an amazing representation formed by the innovative and productive imagination of a writer. Through language, the writer not only expresses his personal feelings or views, but also captures various social phenomena that occur around him. Language serves as a means to describe literary works whose ideas are closely related to the context of the author's life (Banjarnahor et al., 2022). In addition, literature functions as a reflection of life, so complex social realities, including human relations issues, are often processed in literary works. One of the realities that has received a lot of attention is gender issues, especially related to the inequality of women's roles compared to men. In line with that, feminism is one of the approaches to literary criticism that focuses its analysis on human issues and experiences, especially women, in their human dimension (Juanda & Azis., 2018). Hastuti and Maulinda (2021) stated that in terms of etymology, the term feminism comes from Latin, precisely from the word femina which means related to femininity. Clarissa (2023) states that feminism is a movement that seeks to oppose various forms of objectification of women. In addition, according to Iskandar et al. (2023) that feminism is understood as an awareness of the exploitation and oppression experienced by women, both in the context of family, work environment, and social environment. In literary works, feminist ideas can appear in various forms, one of which is through short stories that often capture women's experiences in a concise but profound way. The definition of a short story is a work of imagination written in just a few pages (Chairiah., 2022). Short stories are short stories (less than 10,000 words) giving the impression of a single dominant and self-centred one character in a situation (Ahmad et al., 2020). A short story is a short essay that comes from the writer's imagination. Short stories are literary works that are written briefly and have a storytelling style (Setianingsih & Ikhwan, 2023). Short stories are a type of literary work that is free in the writing process. In short stories, there is a shorter, denser, and direct storyline that focuses on the issue that is at the heart of the conflict, which is the basis that makes short stories different from other forms of prose (Aryanti & Ramdani, 2023). On the other hand, according to Umammy (2021), a short story is a short narrative, which only tells one event, but resolves all themes and problems completely and thoroughly. The opening is written in an interesting way that is easy for readers to remember. In addition, Muyassaroh (2022) revealed that short stories are the result of a work of art combined with the ability to depict a story. Furthermore, at the end of the story (ending) it closes with a surprise. In the context of digital literature, short stories are one of the forms of works that are in great demand because of their concise but meaningful presentation, including Rintik Sedu's works that often highlight the feelings and experiences of modern women. In this study, the focus of the study is directed at existential feminism. According to Siswadi (2022), existentialist feminism emphasizes that existence precedes the essence o (...truncated)