New French Literary Works Challenge Patriarchal Norms and Advocate Social Consent

The 41st edition of the youth book and press fair in Montreuil highlights significant contemporary French literary contributions addressing social issues such as patriarchy and consent. Children's author and general practitioner Baptiste Beaulieu presented his latest book, "Les pansements invisibles," which gently explores the concept of consent among children. Through his social media presence and literary work, Beaulieu advocates for children's literature as a tool to pacify future society.

Simultaneously, Azélie Fayolle's new book, "Subvertir le male gaze," offers a rigorous critique of patriarchal literary structures by analyzing over a hundred canonical texts spanning from Ovid to Zola. Fayolle defines the "male gaze" as a persistent masculine perspective that objectifies women and perpetuates an ideology of female domination. She employs a formalist approach to reveal how these works normalize the sexualization of women and legitimize violence against them, with examples including Zola and Maupassant's demeaning comparisons of women to dogs.

These works together reveal how literature functions both as a site for reinforcing patriarchal control and as an instrument for social critique and transformation. Beaulieu’s focus on consent in youth literature complements Fayolle’s scholarly intervention into the male gaze, suggesting literature’s dual potential to pacify or challenge societal norms.