The feminine neutral
Count the number of people present, and if there is a majority of women, suggest the game of using the “feminine neuter”: “all of us” instead of “all of us” for example.
I am a man and I have often proposed this game during trainings or meetings. I put it forward as a game, because for some people (men or women), it is in fact very shocking. Doing it as a game allows to get around some blocks.
It sounds simple, but this game allows you to work your brain to question meaningful cultural habits. I remember a young 4th grader telling me, very shocked, that we couldn’t say that because the rule is that “the masculine prevails over the feminine”. This simple sentence means well the integration, in the uses of the language itself, of a system not arbitrary, but of domination. This integration of the system of domination in the language cannot be neutral on our representations of the world, and thus on the unconscious way of managing our concrete relations between women and men.
And it’s a real game! We make mistakes, we laugh, we are surprised to hear it in the mouths of others, we laugh at its inflexibility. It also produces a connivance, which is always useful in exchanges. And then, after all, we practice new “neuronal rewiring”!
The practice of feminism seems to me to be an essential stake in the cultural actions, because the awareness of the systems of domination allows to go towards more equality, therefore to contribute to the democracy. The inequality between women and men is for me a cornerstone of the dominations that harm everyone.
But how to “put feminism into practice” concretely in public proposals? How can cultural actions, whatever their field of implementation (artistic, social, educational, professional...), arouse inner movements towards more respect of human rights? It is not a question of stating a normative feminist discourse, but of putting into practice an equality in the ways of acting. This is much more delicate and delicate to do than one might think, because it involves questioning one’s own unconscious functioning.
I share here some resources, partial, from my own pathways, practices and questionings: proposals and stories of cultural actions, working methods, methods of artistic creation and more conceptual or biographical reflections.
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Domination on Display: An Ethnological Analysis of the 51st César Ceremony
Eight years after Blanche Gardin, six years after Adèle Haenel, nothing has changed. The system has even strengthened itself.
The César ceremony is a ritual. Not an artistic ritual, but a social one, whose analysis reveals the mechanisms of domination at work in the (…) -
Patriarchal feminism
When emancipation can reproduce patterns of domination.
Surprisingly, certain forms of struggle against patriarchy can unintentionally reinforce the very structures they seek to combat, particularly (…) -
On systems of domination in the film industry
The reasons for the violence are not what you might think.
The film industry is built on deeply entrenched systems of domination. These hierarchical mechanisms legitimize violence, including sexist (…) -
Workshop immersive techniques for creating an exhibition
An account of a method for constructing a point of view and an exhibition.
Students in the Master 2 Audiovisual and Digital Media (AVMN) program at Grenoble University were asked to organize an exhibition on the theme of (…) -
A definition of feminism
A thought movement in dialogues.
Here is my definition of feminism, from my place as a man: it is for me a movement of thought and action for equal rights between women and men, (…) -
Podcast: “For a democratic and feminist pedagogy”
Dialogue between Noémie Rubat du Mérac and Benoît Labourdette on June 25, 2022.
Overview of the fundamentals of the pedagogical actions conceived and carried out by Benoît Labourdette, linked to the deconstruction of systems (…) -
Collective film shot in a movie theater
Creative participation method.
Giving a voice in a creative way to the spectators of a movie theater, before the screening of a film.I put this proposal into practice in the (…) -
Equality is not won!
A collective film (3’12s, 2022).
An intergenerational film to become more aware, and more equipped, to defend equality. -
Fragments of lives
A collective movie (3’20s, 2022).
By sharing all our views, even the most intimate ones, we become stronger! -
Putting yourself in the other person’s shoes
A collective film supervised by Benoît Labourdette (2’40s, 2021).
Collective empathy exercise. -
Women’s voices
Immersive digital device, designed by Manon Gady and Maïa Hoog.
Immersion in feminist demonstrations, in the word of women.Device conceived and realized by Manon Gady and Maïa Hoog, students of the class of (…) -
Writing workshop in inclusive language
Literary game.
Literary writing game in inclusive language, which can be offered even for a few minutes, in all types of settings and for all ages.Inclusive (…) -
Feminist Contemplation
Participatory art installation.
Words projected on the walls transform a simple place into a space that invites an intimate thought of feminism.Installation realized in (…) -
The feminine neutral
Speaking method.
Count the number of people present, and if there is a majority of women, suggest the game of using the “feminine neuter”: “all of us” instead of (…) -
In front of our eyes
Collective film (3’10s, 2021).
Behind every object, the patriarchyIt is a chain, a sequence shot: each person films an object and gives it life, through the voice, putting (…) -
Gisèle Halimi Feminist Film Festival - Ville des Lilas: “Female gaze” workshop
Film creation workshop, to decode the images.
Male gaze ? Female gaze? What is the difference? How do images place us in positions of domination or submission? In the lobby of the Garde-Chasse (…) -
What kind of world do we want?
A film by Benoît Labourdette (0’54s, muet, 2020).
Bibliography in 2020 for the emancipation of women and men. -
Audiovisual workshops to combat gender stereotypes
Methods for audiovisual creativity.
Thought-provoking ideas and proposals for audiovisual workshop concepts for nuanced and useful actions, with the aim of building critical thinking (…) -
Sexuality #01
A film by Benoît Labourdette (2’28s, 2020).
Sexuality, that intimate space that we experience as natural and spontaneous, is in fact largely constructed by our culture. For more sexual (…) -
Domination
Un film de Benoît Labourdette (1’26s, muet, 2017).
Rebattre les cartes des systèmes de domination.
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Writing workshop in inclusive language Literary game.
Literary writing game in inclusive language, which can be offered even for a few minutes, in all types of settings and for all ages.Inclusive (…) -
DVD set “I’m not a feminist but ...” DVD / Blu-ray
Monitoring of design, encoding, authoring and mastering of a 2 DVD box set. ErgonomicsOne of this two DVD set contains a primer. Some letters (…) -
Trailer of the 2012 Creteil International Women’s Film Festival Commissioning films and video content strategies
In 2012, the International Women’s Film Festival of Créteil is subtitled “The Return of the Fireflies”. The directors of Europe and of the whole (…) -
Trailer of the 2011 Creteil Women’s International Film Festival Commissioning films and video content strategies
In 2011, the International Film Festival of Women of Creteil is dedicated to the filmmakers of the South of the Mediterranean.It is entrusted (…) -
Collective film shot in a movie theater Creative participation method.
Giving a voice in a creative way to the spectators of a movie theater, before the screening of a film.I put this proposal into practice in the (…)
