Feminism in France and in the US: A comparison

Résumé du document

In 1991, the American feminist movement was revived by the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas case. In the same year, Clarence Thomas, a Supreme Court nominee was accused a few days before his appointment of sexual harassment by one of his former co-workers, the Law Professor Anita Hill.

This case is interesting for many reasons; for instance, the fact that Clarence Thomas was the first Black to be about to become a Supreme Court Judge was considered crucial in the multicultural American society. However, it also highlighted the activity of a new generation of feminists in the USA, who stood in favor of Anita Hill and used her personal experience to denounce the male domination; for them, the Hill-Thomas case was only an example of this established fact.

This case caused so much fuss that it became the center of a global controversy, and on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, in France, it was much debated too. But there, the comments were totally different among the women who claimed themselves to be feminist: unlikely to the American, they strongly rejected Anita Hill's complaint, arguing that what she had had endure was not sexual harassment that Clarence Thomas had only expressed his desire towards her and then was not guilty. This case provided them an opportunity to denounce the position of their American "sisters"; in their opinion, they were going too far, and in an anti-American posture, the French accused them of being very excessive and unable to entertain normal relations with men.

Extraits

[...] We can also notice that American feminism, since the Hill-Thomas case, is much more active than French feminism. Once again, it is easily explained by the importance that the two societies give to multiculturalism: in the American society, where multiculturalism is encouraged and communities almost sacred, feminism is a perfectly coherent movement. In France, a country which admits its multiculturalism but balks at taking measures to deal with it, feminism was necessary at the time of the fight for abortion or vote, but now, it seems old-fashioned and meaningless. [...]

[...] French feminism and American feminism in the 19th century: the fight for women's suffrage Where was feminism born? The answer is not totally obvious, as it is always difficult to date the birth of ideas. However, it seems that France was in fact the birthplace of feminism, or at least the country in which the first feminists, even if they did not call themselves so, were born. Indeed, during the French Revolution, women played quite an important role, with their demonstrations: one of the most famous is the “marche des femmes” which on October 5th gathered between 7,000 and 8,000 women in the Hôtel de Ville, who then walked until Versailles to ask for some bread and finally forced the royal family to come back to Paris. [...]

[...] " Elles m'ont répondu qu'elles ne se retrouvaient pas du tout dans le discours féministe actuel. Pourquoi ? " En aucun cas, nous ne voulons rompre avec les garçons des cités. On progressera avec eux m'ont- elles répondu. Je les trouve formidables. Il n'est pas question de se séparer des garçons, c'est pour cela qu'elles se retrouvent sur la critique sociale. Quand j'écoute Fadela Amara, elle dit ce que je ressens : " Les garçons souffrent beaucoup, il faut qu'on les emmène avec nous. [...]

[...] However, several tendencies were united into the Mouvement de Libération des Femmes which regroups left-wing women, feminists and members of a particular group, “Psychanalyse et politique” (Psycho&Po), whose objective was the analysis of the woman as an independent being thanks to psychology. Nevertheless, feminism was not always organising in a totally independent way. We have already mentioned the initiative of President Kennedy, even if the consequences were not so important. In France, there were huge expectations when the socialist party of François Mitterrand won the 1981 elections, and when Yvette Roudy was appointed Ministre des Droits de la Femme. [...]

[...] Women are perpetual victims, and almost any kind of sexuality is a rape. All men are potential rapists, as Marylin French explains : can beat or kill the woman he claims to love ; he can rape women whether mate, acquaintance, or stranger ; he can rape or sexually molest his daughters, nieces, stepchildren or the children of a woman he claims to love. The vast majority of men in the world do one or more of the above”[15]. Of course, this is one of the most excessive versions of American feminism. [...]