THE MILITANT FEMINIST CINEMA

May 68

The cinema quickly became a very important weapon in the service of the struggle. The women grabbed the camera to allow the women without a voiceto express theirselves. By assuming their representation, they assumed their liberation. The idea was that the control of the image of their body would lead to the control of their body. The feminist cinema of May 68 was of course militant, shot in the middle of the action, on the fringe of the production and distribution systems. Cinema was, at this time, almost exclusively for men. That is why women shot all their short-movies in Super-8 or Video, and these little cameras were the best tools for this kind of militant action, thanks to the technological innovations : they could watch their images immediately, the cameras were less heavy, the shots could last 30 seconds. The video allowed the filmmakers to be quick and reactive.

Their movies rejected the language of the dominant cinema, reproducing the dominant ideology. They gave women the right to talk : for instance, Carole Roussopoulos interviewed a female manual laborer in Monique Lip 1 , and she talks about her life during the strike.
A movie synthetizes all the feminist questions : Sorcières Camarades by Danielle Jaeggi in 1971. It symbolizes the birth of a “We, women”, from the individual to the collective. This movie links politics to aesthetics. You can see an extract on http://www.lepeuplequimanque.org/distribution-2?brand=9 : it is the beginnig of the movie.

These militant movies were often about abortion. One was particularly direct. Y a qu’à pas baiser, by Carole Roussopoulos, shows images of an abortion in 1971 : the camera was really between the legs of a woman. It was of course censored (as many feminist movies were) and was projected in illegal theaters.

HISTORY OF FEMINISM

2nd part (1968-1977)

This feminist movement, begun in 68, is different from the first one, because it’s no longer about civil rights. It is about the right for women to control their body. The main demands were about abortion and contraception. In May 68, the French “Feminin Masculin Avenir” group was very active and organized a lot of debates on womens’ roles.

The 28th of August 1970, nine women put down some flowers under the Triumph Arch to the glory of the unknown soldier’s wife. This is the birth of the MLF (Mouvement de Libération de la Femme). Actually, this name was given to these women by a journalist of France Soir; they of course hated it and changed for the Mouvement de Libération des Femmes (and that made all the difference).

So the feminist movment was divided into smaller groups:

- The Movment for the Legalisation of Abortion and Contraception : this group created the centers of Planning Familial. It was a women's group: men were forbidden.

- The MLF : it was mixed, and divided into smaller groups:
+ “Psychanalysis and politics”: led by Antoinette Fouques, it was based on literatury contestation. They did not trust cinema to serve womens’ struggle.
+ “Revolutionary Feminists” : they fought against patriarchy, doing a lot of videos.
+ “Class struggle” : composed by gauchist groups.

It is the period when women became aware of their oppression, and they began a real struggle as an oppressed population (as Black people or gays did). This feminist movment rejected the idea of a feminine essence, a sort of genetic predisposition to softness, motherhood, futility and submission. “The Woman doesn’t exist, there are just women”: that was one of the main messages. That is what Simone de Beauvoir means in « Le Deuxième Sexe », with her famous sentence : « On ne naît pas femme, on le devient. »
Contrary to a common idea, feminists did not fight men (there were some in feminist groups), but the patriarchal society, which makes women feel inferior. Actually, this kind of society is led by men... For example, until 1965, a woman could not work or have a bank account without her husband’s agreement!
But the main pressure was against womens’ body and their right to have a baby (or not) when they want. A lot of demonstrations were done on this theme. One of them, shot by Carole Roussopoulos, became famous : an old lady , who was asked by the filmmaker what she thought about abortion, answered : “Y a qu’à pas baiser!” (I don’t translate it because it’s better in french...). It was a so clever answer... This sentence became the title of one of Roussopoulos’s movie. The feminists did a lot of militant movies, but I will talk about feminist cinema in my next article...
The Bobigny trial, in 1972, was a very important event which contributed to the legalisation of abortion a few years later (1975). Five women were judged : a 16-year-old girl, who aborted after a rape, and four grown-ups (including her mother) who have helped her and performed the abortion. Gisele Halimi was their lawyer : they were all freed or had symbolic sentences. This trial made a huge impression on public opinion, and contributed to letting people know what women were asking.
The following link leads to a video called “Debout! Une histoire du mouvement des femmes 1970-1980” by Carole Roussopoulos. It is made with extracts from feminist militant movies, and some interviews of feminists. I love this film because it makes us remember our duty to these women who fighted for our rights. http://www.viddler.com/explore/Belphi/videos/28/

HISTORY OF FEMINISM

1st Part : 1875-1940

Originally, the word « feminism » was used to describe the « sickness » of a man acting like a woman. In 1872, Alexandre Dumas uses it ironically to describe the supporters of women. It is Hubertine Auclair, in 1882, who gave to this word the sense we know today, which means “fighting for women’s rights”.

This first feminist movement was based on the right for women to contribute to citizenship, and especially for women’s right to vote. Paradoxically, this fight was a little bit sexist, because the women claimed they would be good voters and politicians because they knew what was good for families and children. In France, the feminists mainly demonstrated in the streets, printed posters and expressed theirselves; it was non-violent actions. The feminist Jeanne Valbot disturbed the Senat by throwing tracts : she was arrested. It wasn’t the same in England : Emmeline Pankhurst created in 1903 the Women’s Social and Political Union. The members used extremist actions: boycotts, bombs, fire, violent demonstrations, hunger strike and even suicides. The English law of the 2nd of July 1928 gave women the right to vote, almost 20 years before France. In the USA, this right existed for every woman since 1920 in every state (1869 in Wyoming).

In France, the women were given the right to vote in 1944. It is interesting to notice that this right was “given” by men, as a gift. The fight wasn’t about real equality yet.

There were three tendencies in the feminist movement of the early 90’s :
- the reformists: they fought for a better women’s condition.
- the moderates : they fought for political rights but they didn’t ask for a man/woman equality, especially in homes.

- the radicals: it was a very minority part of the french movement.

We have very few images of this fight: the only ones we have were shot by men, and they often are ironic. For example, a film was made in 1912, called "Les femmes-députés". It is a very ironic parody of the suffragettes, and the tone is clearly anti-feminist. But this short movie is interesting because it is a male reaction to a moment when the fight was strong : it shows the fear of the masculinization of women and the feminisation of men.