Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Sex Education In France: An Imbalanced History, Marisa Peters

Honors Theses

Although the history of sex education is relatively new, it is very complex. Enlightenment philosophers from Rousseau to de Sade had ideas on what the sex education of girls and of boys should entail, with Rousseau preparing her for marriage, and the latter preparing her to be a libertine! In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries there were stereotypes too, of girls in the countryside learning about sex as a result of cramped living and proximity to farm animals. For young bourgeois women in the city, there were manuals on marriage and how to perform their wifely …

Queer Displacements: Minorities, Mobilities, And Mobilizations In French And Francophone Literature, Thomas Muzart

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Focusing on the work of Virginie Despentes, Jean Genet, Guy Hocquenghem, and Abdellah Taïa, this dissertation challenges the antisocial turn taken in queer theory, by means of a parallel study of the authors’ geographical and intellectual itineraries. While critics like Leo Bersani and Lee Edelman have suggested that the revolutionary potential in queer identity lies in its opposition to romanticized forms of community, I argue, along with José Esteban Muñoz, that their praising of singularity and negativity is similarly extreme. Alternatively, my study shows how the geographical displacements both experienced and imagined by my primary authors can illuminate the passage …

Honoré De Balzac’S Portrayal Of The Feminine Condition In The Wild Ass’S Skin, Père Goriot, And The Lily Of The Valley, Brooke V. Musmeci

Honors Theses

In 19th century France, women appeared to be second class citizens. They were often limited in their abilities to have independence and secure their own wealth. This perception of women perhaps justifies why, as Honoré de Balzac’s novels illustrated the realities of French society, he attempted to characterize women’s struggles to obtain control and power in their lives. In his novels The Wild Ass’s Skin (1831), The Lily of the Valley (1835), and Le Père Goriot (1835), Balzac sought to prove how women could improve their lot.

Firstly, in studying how women had been relegated to second-class citizens under their …

Femmes À Huis Clos : Les Féminités Non-Normatives Dans Le Théâtre De Sartre, Megan Caljouw

Senior Theses and Projects

This thesis explores Jean-Paul Sartre’s depiction of women in theater, focusing on the female characters of The Respectful Prostitute (1946) and No Exit (1944). More specifically, I argue that Sartre presents women who reject normative conceptions of femininity prevalent in France during the twentieth century. Using Claire Duchen’s Women’s Rights and Women’s Lives in France 1944-1968 to provide a baseline understanding of gender roles during this time, I illustrate the ways in which the plays’ female characters “fail” to adhere to stereotypical notions of femininity in the realms of motherhood and sexuality. My argument is informed by a variety of …