Showing posts with label sexism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sexism. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 8, 2026

Mapuche, un fantasme masculin rêvé par Caryl Férey

D'accord, l'utilisation du langage dans Mapuche est originale et la trame du polar est pas mal ficelée.
Mais.
Ce roman est un fantasme masculin. Quand j'étais petite, avant de m'endormir, je m'imaginais galopant sur un cheval, j'allais sauver les écoliers de mon école en feu.
Ce livre Mapuche suit la même veine. Le détective tente de sauver un certain nombre de personnes et découvre une sombre histoire d'enlèvements d'enfants dans le monde politique de Buenos Aires. Ces adoptions d'enfants de prisonniers politiques forment une part de l'histoire argentine bien documentée, il y a des documentaires bien étayés qui racontent ce triste épisode de la dictature. Finalement, après quelques épisodes héroïques, il sauve surtout sa jeune amante qui est évidemment beaucoup moins habile que lui et moins raisonnante pour ne pas dire intelligente. Mais les trans dans l'histoire subissent des morts horribles, ce roman incluant des épisodes d'ultra violence (comme ceux de Jo Nesbø, d'ailleurs), avons-nous vraiment besoin d'éprouver ce ton dans notre monde déjà frappé de génocides et de terreur d'état?
Utiliser l'histoire de peuples autres, c'est aussi ce qu'on appelle de l'appropriation culturelle, dans le sens que Caryl Férey n'est pas argentin, il se rend dans divers pays et s'approprie leur histoire pour créer un polar. Pourtant, en France, il y a aussi de sordides histoires dans lesquelles il pourrait puiser matière pour ses livres: le massacre à Paris le 17 octobre 1961 de centaines de Nords Africains par exemple, ou plus récemment l'abus sexuel d'enfants dans les écoles.
Autre exemple de ce fantasme? Le détective a 47 ans, sa jeune amante 28. 19 ans de différence. Pour un homme vieillissant comme Férey, il s'offre à lui-même une justification plaisante d'essayer de séduire des jeunes femmes dans la vraie vie. On nous présente constamment dans les films des couples où l'homme est beaucoup plus âgé que la femme, comme si c'était une situation normale. Or dans la vie, les hommes meurent plus jeunes, il serait donc plus "normal" que les femmes aient des compagnons plus jeunes, plutôt que le contraire. Mais tant que ce seront des hommes qui réaliseront la majorité des films, des hommes qui racontent l'histoire, ce sera ce fantasme qui nous sera imposé et qui devient une norme dans la vraie vie. D'ailleurs, non seulement le livre est sexiste il est aussi âgiste./>
La jeune amante est d'origine Mapuche, un peuple indigène du Chili et de l'Argentine. En parlant d'appropriation culturelle, Férey n'hésite pas à imaginer une femme dont l'expérience du monde est diamétralement différente de la sienne. Le héros appelle sa jeune amante indigène: "Petit lynx". C'est un peu comme les animaux, les indigènes, peut-être? Elle est petite, oui, je suppose, si elle a 19 ans de moins que lui./>
Un homme mapuche dans un cimetière mapuche:
Mapuche, a male fantasy dreamed up by Caryl Férey Granted, the use of language in Mapuche is original, and the plot of the crime novel is pretty well put together. But. This novel is a male fantasy. When I was little, before falling asleep, I’d imagine myself galloping on a horse, to go and save the students from my school on fire. This book, Mapuche, follows the same vein. The detective tries to save a number of people and uncovers a dark story of child abductions in the political world of Buenos Aires. These adoptions of children of political prisoners are a well-documented part of Argentine history; there are well-researched documentaries that recount this sad episode of the dictatorship. In the end, after a few heroic episodes, he mainly saves his young lover, who is obviously much less skilled than he is and less level-headed, not to mention intelligent. But the trans characters in the story suffer horrific deaths; this novel includes episodes of extreme violence (much like those in Jo Nesbø’s works, for that matter). Do we really need to experience this tone in a world already plagued by genocide and state-sponsored terror? Using the history of other peoples is also what is known as cultural appropriation, in the sense that Caryl Férey is not Argentine; he travels to various countries and appropriates their history to create a crime novel. Yet in France, there are also sordid stories from which he could draw material for his books: The massacre in Paris on October 17, 1961, of hundreds of North Africans, for example, or more recently, the sexual abuse of children in schools. Another example of this male fantasy? The detective is 47, his young lover 28. A 19-year age gap. For an aging man like Férey, he offers himself a convenient justification for trying to seduce young women in real life. We are constantly presented with couples in films where the man is much older than the woman, as if this were a normal situation. Yet in real life, men die younger, so it would be more “normal” for women to have younger partners, rather than the other way around. But as long as men continue to make the majority of films—men who tell the story—it is this fantasy that will be imposed on us and that becomes the norm in real life. In fact, not only is the book sexist, it's also agist. The young lover is of Mapuche origin, an indigenous people of Chile and Argentina. Speaking of cultural appropriation, Férey doesn’t hesitate to imagine a woman whose experience of the world is diametrically different from his own. The hero calls his young indigenous lover “Little Lynx.” Are they a bit like animals, the indigenous people, perhaps? And she is indeed “little,” yes, I suppose, if she’s 19 years younger than him.
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Saturday, April 21, 2018

Notes: Taking back the net - PEN 2018




The most shocking item about this panel? Yassmin Abdel-Magied was denied entry in the USA, the custom officials arguing that her visa was inadequate, a visa she had used in the past for similar purposes. She participated in the panel via Skype.

 Yassmin is an activist and a writer, she defends islam, and women, and muslim women. She has met with a lot of hostility in Australia, where she grew up, and has had to leave for her own safety and sanity. She spoke about how to survive harassement.

Toll on mental state:
Harassment takes a toll on mental state. Victims need to choose their strategy (ignore, react, respond, etc). They need to self care. Get support from communities around, from other victims of harassment. They can protect themselves with barriers such as

+ staff that takes over social media
+ friends that offer support
+ spend more time in "real life", interacting with real people

Harassment also takes time and energy away from activists, writers, artists, undermining their activities and production.

Anita Sarkeesian was the target of a sexist hate campaign of unbelievable proportions, when she tackled the sexism in gaming.

"The gaming world still hasn't done much to improve their misogynistic representations of women in particular."

Typical hate posts: "she's a liar!", "she makes pots of money", death and rape threats.

Porochista Khakpour is a writer, journalist, editor of Iranian descent. She has been harassed both as a woman and a Muslim.

"Some writers have in their contract the number of people that have linked with their social media platforms, and they can't quit them if they fall victime to harassment."

She lives in Harlem within a community of Muslims. Some of them have become less vocal on social media because of the psychological toll that takes, including suicidal frames of mind.

Media and harassment:
The media covering the harassment is often inadequately prepared. They want to sell a good story at whatever cost. They want to represent both sides of the stories. But when a crime is involved, there are no two sides of the story, just one. PEN is issuing guidelines for the media to help them cover the issue.

It's very difficult to get the law to intervene effectively, to sue successfully.

Harassment has increased under the current government. Revolution Books in Harlem have suffered a huge increase of attacks.

Companies' attitude to harassment:
Facebook, twitter and instagram and other social media platforms were created by white American guys. They had little awareness about harassment, racism, sexism, and didn't think through the potential for harassment. Initially the companies did very little in terms of controlling hate. They're now doing a bit better. Twitter used to have a staff of 4 concerned with safety issues. Now they have a whole department, safety counsel, etc.

They do not have to give their users freedom of speech, as they're private companies. They can, and do now, set rules: such word can't be used, such behavior is inacceptable.


Contributed by  - -  Arabella Hutter von Arx








Anita Sarkeesian
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