Dr. Emily Francomano (OC'92)'s talk: "Medieval Misogyny and the Manosphere: The Querelle des Femmes As A Usable Past"

What can the pre-modern debate on women, known as the querelle des femmes, tell us about today's neo-masculinist writings of the manosphere? This talk will address the ways that the manosphere has parroted many of the central rhetorical stances of the misogynist side of the querelle, and also how some of the leading figures of the manosphere have looked to the querelle as an origin story about what it calls the “dominant narrative” shaping gender relations today.  One of the signal continuities between the querelle and neo-masculinist writings resides in their quests to find usable pasts in myth and history. Study of the querelle today is all the more relevant given the heightened politicization of sex and gender and the misappropriation of the past not only in social media but in legislation as well.