Milestones of feminism: Olympe De Gouges and the first women’s rights declaration.

“Women, wake up; the tocsin of reason sounds throughout the universe; recognize your rights. The powerful empire of nature is no longer surrounded by prejudice, fanaticism, superstition, and lies. The torch of truth has dispersed all the clouds of folly and usurpation. Enslaved man has multiplied his force and needs yours to break his chains.

Having become free, he has become unjust toward his companion. Oh women! Women, when will you cease to be blind? What advantages have you gathered in the Revolution? A scorn more marked, a disdain more conspicuous…

During the centuries of corruption, you only reigned over the weakness of men. Your empire is destroyed; what is left to you then? Firm belief in the injustices of men.”

Olympe de Gouges

It was the year 1791 when Olympe De Gouges published the first “Declaration of the rights of Woman”.
After that, several were the attempts to build a new consciousness about the role of women in the society.

Unfortunately, that is still object of discussion, especially when it comes to the power and the quality of both artistic and commercial products.

Therefore, the goal of this project is to eradicate prejudices and stigma, building a new image, without using any other words, but art, music and movement of bodies. A party is a place where everyone can be free to share energy, being part of an equal world.

Benedetta Lepri

 

 

About Olympe De Gouges:

Olympe de Gouges; born Marie Gouze; 7 May 1748 – 3 November 1793) was a French playwright and political activist whose writings on women’s rights and abolitionism reached a large audience in various countries. She began her career as a playwright in the early 1780s. As political tension rose in France, Olympe de Gouges became increasingly politically engaged. She became an outspoken advocate against the slave trade in the French colonies in 1788. At the same time, she began writing political pamphlets. In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen (1791), she challenged the practice of male authority and the notion of male-female inequality. She was executed by guillotine during the Reign of Terror (1793–1794) for attacking the regime of the Revolutionary government and for her association with the Girondists.

Source:  Olympe de Gouges – Wikipedia