Geneviève Pastre
Geneviève Pastre (20 November 1924 – 17 February 2012) was a French poet, academic and lesbian activist.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] She has been described as "responsible in a large measure for the creation of the Gay Liberation Movement in France", although she said of herself: "Je ne suis pas une activiste. Je suis poéte et danseuse" (I am not an activist. I am a poet and a dancer).[5]
Early life, education, and career[]
Pastre was born on 20 November 1924 in Mainz, Germany. She hoped to become a dancer but was encouraged by her parents to study classics, graduated from the Sorbonne, and gained her Agrégation teaching qualification. She taught in lycées in Saumur (1949-1955) and Montgeron (1955-1989).[2]
She led a theatre group, which became known as the Geneviève Pastre Company, between 1960 and 1978.[1]
She was married for eight years and had two daughters.[1]
Writing[]
Pastre published ten collections of poetry between 1972 and 2005.[5] She came out as lesbian with the publication of her 1980 essay De l'Amour lesbien ("About lesbian love") and then published several historical works including Athènes et le Péril Saphique: Homosexualité Féminine en Grèce Antique (Athens and the Sapphic Peril: Homosexuality in Ancient Greece) and L'Homosexualité dans le Monde Antique (Homosexuality in the Ancient World), which are said to " analyze modern mythologizing of the Athenian democracy and other classical institutions from a uniquely feminist and gay perspective", in part in response to Michel Foucault's work The History of Sexuality which she thought suffered from his "misunderstanding of ancient languages and of lesbianism".[1]
Activism[]
Pastre was one of the founders of the Fréquence Gaie (initially a gay community radio station, and since evolved into Radio FG), and was its president from 1982 to 1984.[1]
(CUARH), in 1979. In the early 1980s she was involved in the radio stationIn the 1980s she set up a publishing house, Editions G. Pastre, to publish feminist and progressive writers, and was one of the founders of Les Octaviennes, an organisation of lesbian writers.[5] In 1990 she organised the Festival européen de l’écriture gaie et lesbienne in Paris.[1]
In 1995 she helped set up a new political party Les Mauves translated as The Lavender Party, which tried, but failed, to run a candidate in the 2002 French presidential election, but which was influential in bringing both France and the World Health Organization to stop classifying trans-sexualism as a mental disorder, and in encouraging Amnesty International to support the right to claim asylum for homosexual people in countries where homosexuality is illegael.[5]
The
has named one of its rooms the Espace Geneviève Pastre in her memory.![Plaque saying "Espace Genevieve PASTRE: Militante LGBT, Femme de lettres, Femme politique"](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ac/Centre_LGBT_Paris_idf_-_espace_Genevieve_Pastre_-_plaque.jpg/220px-Centre_LGBT_Paris_idf_-_espace_Genevieve_Pastre_-_plaque.jpg)
Selected works[]
- Pastre, Geneviève (2002). Une femme en apesanteur : mémoires. Paris: Balland. ISBN 978-2715813922.
- Pastre, Geneviève (1980). De l'amour lesbien. Paris: P. Horay. ISBN 270580093X.
- Pastre, Geneviève (1987). Athènes et "le péril saphique" : homosexualité féminine en Grèce ancienne. Homosexualités dans le monde antique: 1. Paris: Libr. "Les Mots à la bouche". ISBN 978-2950089724.
- Pastre, Geneviève (1996). Les amazones : du mythe à l'histoire. Homosexualités dans le monde antique: 2. Paris: Editions G. Pastre. ISBN 978-2-908350-17-3.
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Gianoulis, Tina. "Pastre, Geneviève (b. 1924)" (PDF). glbtq project. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Geneviève Pastre (1924-2012)". data.bnf.fr (in French). Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ "Hommage à Geneviève Pastre - Fédération LGBTI+". federation-lgbt.org. 18 February 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ Delon, Stéphanie (3 October 2020). "Portrait: Geneviève Pastre, militante enthousiaste". Jeanne Magazine (in French). Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "Revolting Women: Geneviève Pastre". Bad Reputation. 21 September 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2021.
- ^ "Geneviève Pastre". www.hexagonegay.com. Hexagone Gay. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ "Geneviève Pastre". . 2 November 2005. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
External links[]
- "Geneviève Pastre à propos du lesbianisme (interview with Aline Pailler)" (video: 2m 55s). ina.fr. 29 March 1990.
- List of Paster's works at the BNF
- 1924 births
- 2012 deaths
- French women poets
- 20th-century French poets
- LGBT writers from France
- University of Paris alumni
- 20th-century French women writers
- Writers from Mainz
- German emigrants to France