‘Liberty leading the people’? Dress liberty in post-#MeToo France

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Abstract

In an open letter to Le Monde in 2018, 100 French women challenged some of the basic assumptions and aims of the #MeToo campaign and its French equivalent #Balancetonporc and defended la liberté d’importuner, the freedom to pester or harass, claiming that a truly liberated sexuality rests both on the freedom to harass and the complementary freedom to say ‘no’. In response to this letter, French-Moroccan novelist Leila Slimani claimed instead the right not to be harassed. Slimani’s response also outlines, amongst other things, a utopian vision of dress liberty. Almost three years after Slimani’s opinion piece, women’s dress freedom was challenged in France not by harassment in the street but by France’s education minister. In response to young women wearing crop tops to school he advised students to ‘dress in a more Republican style’. The comments caused controversy which went to the heart of debates about French womanhood, femininity, and Republicanism. This chapter examines the current state of dress liberty in France in light of the MeToo movement and the reaction to it.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNew Interdisciplinary Perspectives on and Beyond Autonomy
EditorsChristopher Watkin, Oliver Davis
Place of PublicationNew York NY USA
PublisherRoutledge
Chapter12
Pages194-210
Number of pages17
Edition1st
ISBN (Electronic)9781003331780
ISBN (Print)9781032364070, 9781032364094
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Publication series

NameWarwick Series in the Humanities
PublisherRoutledge

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