French feminism

"French feminism" (which is a phrase mostly used in English-speaking countries) refers to the work of a group of feminists in France from the 1970s to the early 1990s.

French feminism, compared to Anglophone feminism, is distinguished by an approach which is at once more philosophical and more literary. Its texts are effusive, metaphorical, and conceptually rich, rather than pragmatic; they are not as concerned with pragmatism, immediate political doctrine, or a "materialism" which is not of the body.

Writers labeled as "French feminist"

 * Chantal Chawaf
 * Catherine Clément
 * Hélène Cixous
 * Luce Irigaray
 * Julia Kristeva
 * Monique Wittig

French Feminism Forerunners

 * Simone de Beauvoir
 * Marguerite Duras
 * Colette
 * George Sand

Themes
Common themes of this work include at least some degree of anti-essentialism, écriture féminine, and a critique of phallogocentrism informed by contemporary developments in Continental philosophy.