French Feminisms meet Queer Theory

Feminist and GLBTQ thought and activism in contemporary France, their conflicts and compatibilities, and their exchanges with American critical theory. Topics include Beauvoir's legacy and 1970's feminisms (Cixous, Irigaray, Wittig); Foucault on the history of sexuality; Bourdieu on masculine domination; recent public policy debates (le PaCS and la parité) ; the impact of US queer theory on GLBTQ studies in France.