What's new in French feminism at the beginning of the 21st century? How did France, within a decade, change from one of the most backward European societies in terms of women's representation in the political sphere, into one of the most progressive in this area? What are French and Francophone women up to in the arts and literature? The essays in this volume, written by the most prominent personalities in the field, examine some of the new issues that have arisen in French society in the past twenty years. In general, these essays reflect the shift from the literary and psychoanalytic approaches that characterized French feminism twenty years ago, to the more social and political questions of today. Some of the topics include the "parity" and "PACS" debates, the France-USA exchanges, the issue of "multiculturalism," the new historical approaches, and the most recent trends in literature and film by women, among others. Contents: Introduction--Roger Célestin, Eliane DalMolin, and Isabelle de Courtivron I. Politics and Society 1. Sylviane Agacinski. The Turning Point of Feminism: Against the Effacement of Women 2. Pierre Bourdieu. Symbolic Violence 3. Eric Fassin. The Politics of PaCS in a Transatlantic Mirror: Same-Sex Unions and Sexual Difference in France Today 4. Christine Fauré. Women's History after the Law on Parity 5. Geneviève Fraisse. Exclusive Democracy: A French Paradigm 6. Françoise Gaspard and Farhad Khosrokhavar. The Headscarf and the Republic 7. Benoîte Groult. The Feminization of Professional Names: An Outrage against Masculinity 8. Jeanine Mossuz-Lavau. The Politics of Reproduction 9. Véronique Nahoum-Grappe. Sexualities on Parade 10. Chiennes de garde of the World, Unite! The Bitch Manifesto, March 8, 1999 11. Mireille Rosello. New Gendered Mosaics: Their Mothers, the Gauls 12. Mariette Sineau. Parité in Politics: From a Radical Idea to Consensual Reform II. Arts and Literature 13. Odile Cazenave. Francophone Women Writers in France in the Nineties 14. Whitney Chadwick. Body as Subject: Four Contemporary Women Artists 15. Hélène Cixous. Unmasked! 16. Catherine Cusset. Marguerite's Nieces: Women's Novels at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century 17. Marie Etienne. The Doorway of the World: Women in Contemporary French-Language Poetry 18. Anne Gillain. Profile of a Filmmaker: Catherine Breillat 19. Geneviève Sellier. French Women Making Films in the 1990s III. France--USA 20. Debate. Women: A French Singularity? I. Elisabeth Badinter. The French Exception II. Joan Wallach Scott. "Vive la difference!" III. Mona Ozouf. Counting the Days 21. Judith Feher-Gurewich. Lacan and American Feminism: Who Is the Analyst? 22. Jean-Philippe Mathy. The Symptom of "American-Style Feminism" 23. Claire Goldberg Moses. Made in America: "French Feminism" in Academia Roger Célestin is Associate Professor of French and Comparative Literature, University of Connecticut and Co-editor of Sites: The Journal of 20-th century /Contemporary French Studies. Eliane DalMolin is Associate Professor of French and Co-Chair, French Studies, University of Connecticut. She is also Co-Editor of Sites: The Journal of 20th-Century/Contemporary French Studies. Isabelle de Courtivron is Professor of French Studies and Head of the Foreign Languages and Literatures department at MIT. |