Geneviève Fraisse
Diretora de pesquisa emérita – CNRS / CRAL-EHESS
Paris, França
genevieve.fraisse@orange.com

Resumo: Neste ensaio, a filósofa francesa Geneviève Fraisse recorre à figura da vendedora ambulante para refletir sobre seu próprio percurso no pensamento feminista, marcado pelo deslocamento constante e pela ausência de um lugar fixo para a questão sexo/gênero na tradição filosófica. A autora defende a necessidade de partir do empírico para construir uma epistemologia política, sustentada pela hipótese da historicidade: os sexos fazem história, em vez de expressarem uma essência fixa e ahistórica. Por meio de exemplos como a polêmica em torno do busto de Olympe de Gouges, os debates sobre o divórcio no século XIX, o trabalho doméstico, o movimento pela paridade política, o consentimento e a nudez como ativismo, Fraisse percorre diferentes facetas da democracia exclusiva que historicamente excluiu as mulheres, mostrando como a passagem ao universal permanece central tanto para o pensamento da igualdade quanto para o da emancipação.

Palavras-chave: feminismo; epistemologia feminista; historicidade; democracia exclusiva; Geneviève Fraisse.

Abstract: In this essay, the french philosopher Geneviève Fraisse draws on the figure of the peddler to reflect on her own trajectory within feminist thought, marked by constant displacement and the absence of a fixed place for the question of sex/gender within the philosophical tradition. The author argues for the need to depart from the empirical in order to build a political epistemology, sustained by the hypothesis of historicity: the sexes make history, rather than expressing a fixed, ahistorical essence. Through examples such as the controversy surrounding Olympe de Gouges’s bust, nineteenth-century debates on divorce, domestic labor, the political parity movement, consent, and nudity as activism, Fraisse traces different facets of the exclusive democracy that has historically excluded women, showing how the passage to the universal remains central to both the thought of equality and that of emancipation.

Keywords: feminism; feminist epistemology; historicity; exclusive democracy; Geneviève Fraisse

This paper aims to analyze the tensions between the concepts of gender and patriarchy when they are used to analyze phenomena of gender violence. To this end, the concept of patriarchy is first presented, from the point of view of authors who use it and are in favor of its use, and others who defend its elimination. Secondly, gender is analyzed in contrast to patriarchy, as an opposite and alternative to it. Understanding that the concepts are connected to modes of capitalist reproduction, the links between the patriarchal and capitalist structures are also explored. Finally, Gayle Rubin’s concept of the sex/gender system is analyzed, which works as a synthesis and a kind of way out of the problems described, while at the same time serving as a starting point for other discussions in the field of gender oppression.

Key words: patriarchy; gender; feminism; capitalism; gender violence.