Mary Ellmann (née Donoghue) (1921–1989) was an American writer and literary critic.
Ellmann is particularly noted for her book of essays, Thinking About Women (1968),[1] which discusses the evolution of the representation of femininity in British and American literature, exhibiting sexual analogies and stereotypes from the texts and contrasting criticism by male and female authors.
[2] The literary historian Mary Eagleton cited Ellmann's book as one of two "significant texts" in early feminist theory.
[3] The work has been widely cited for its introduction of the concept "phallic criticism" as applied to writers of both sexes.
[4] In a review of academic studies of gender, Mary Poovey described Thinking About Women as an example of the "earliest U.S. incarnation" of feminist literary criticism, which, "with the excitement of pioneers discovering virgin territory... helped make writing about women academically acceptable.