L' homme des droits et la citoyenne tout court : essais d’écriture inclusive pendant la Révolution

Abstract

Based on some thirty examples, Geffroy’s paper traces the history of the debate about the meaning of man (generic or gendered) during the French Revolution. She shows the contrast between the failure of inclusion in the law and the success, in everyday conversation, of the term of address “citoyen/citoyenne” (male/female citizen): not only is the expression morphologically egalitarian, but, for a brief, prefigurative time, it erased all reference to the marital status of women.