''La Fronde'' ( The Sling) was a

French feminist Feminism in France is the history of feminist thought and movements in France. Feminism in France can be roughly divided into three waves: First-wave feminism from the French Revolution through the Third Republic which was concerned chiefly with ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

first published in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on 9 December 1897 by activist

Marguerite Durand Marguerite Durand (24 January 1864 – 16 March 1936) was a French stage actress, journalist, and a leading suffragette. She founded her own newspaper, and ran for election. She is also known for having a pet lion. For her contributions to t ...

(1864–1936). Durand, a well known actress and journalist, used her high-profile image to attract many notable Parisian women to contribute articles to her daily newspaper, which was the first of its kind in France to be run and written entirely by women. She also had experience on other reputable publications, including '' La Presse'' and ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of reco ...

''.Chapman, Jane. "France and Britain; Cultural Citizenship and the Rise of Consumer Society." Gender, Citizenship and Newspapers: Historical and Transnational Perspectives. Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. 63, 80, 81, 82, 87, 93, 94. Print.

Circulation

''La Fronde'' was financed by a donation of 7 million francs, from the Jewish banker Gustave de Rothschild. The paper began publication immediately following the

Dreyfus affair The Dreyfus affair (french: affaire Dreyfus, ) was a political scandal that divided the French Third Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francop ...

, and published

feuilletons A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of french: feuillet, the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art criti ...

modeled on mass newspapers. It was published daily initially; from 1897 to 1903, and then was published monthly from 1903 to 1905. Rappaport, Helen. ''Encyclopedia of Women Social Reformers''. Vol. 1. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2003. 207-8. Print. Circulation for ''La Fronde'' briefly reached a peak of 50,000 but in September 1903 had a massive

press run Print circulation is the average number of copies of a publication. The number of copies of a non-periodical publication (such as a book) are usually called print run. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid circulat ...

of 200,000. However, financial problems forced the paper to cut back to a monthly publication, and then to close altogether in March 1905.

Content

The provocative title of the publication literally means ''slingshot''Roberts, Mary Louise. Disruptive Acts: The New Woman in Fin-de-siècle France. Chicago: U of Chicago, 2002. 75, 76, 77, 78, 82, 90, 100, 101, 104, 121, 122, 132, 152. Print. and refers to the 1648–1653

Fronde The Fronde () was a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653, occurring in the midst of the Franco-Spanish War, which had begun in 1635. King Louis XIV confronted the combined opposition of the princes, the nobility, the law cour ...

rebellion against the monarchy in France. The frondeur tradition within journalism derives from this rebellion against Mazarin, the past chief minister of France. This allusion in the title was an alignment with the frondeur notion that marginalized groups had the right to engage in dialogues about matters of importance. The paper gave extensive coverage to a broad range of feminist issues and profiled such things as

Jeanne Chauvin Jeanne Chauvin (22 April 1862 – 7 September 1926) was the second woman to obtain a degree in law in France, in 1890. Her application to be sworn in as a lawyer was at first rejected, but after the law was changed in 1900 she was the second French ...

's demand that the French government grant her the right to practice law and

Madeleine Pelletier Madeleine Pelletier (18 May 1874 – 29 December 1939) was a French psychiatrist, first-wave feminist, and political activist. Born in Paris, Pelletier frequented socialist and anarchist groups in her adolescence. She became a doctor in her twe ...

's argument for her right to become a psychiatrist. To send a message of equality the paper indicated the current date according to a variety of calendars such as the French Revolutionary calendar, the

Jewish calendar The Hebrew calendar ( he, הַלּוּחַ הָעִבְרִי, translit=HaLuah HaIvri), also called the Jewish calendar, is a lunisolar calendar used today for Jewish religious observance, and as an official calendar of the state of Israel. I ...

, and the Gregorian. It was responsible for engaging women in non-domestic issues of social reform and activism, and eventually its focus shifted to emphasize militarism and republicanism, as well as reform of the civil code. The publication's revival was an attempt to "galvanize"

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

French patriotism. Immediately prior to the closing of the publication, it had changed its focus to suffragism.

Gender

''La Fronde'' was highly unusual in its subversion of normative gender relations and roles. For instance, not only were the workers all women, with the exception of the building's caretaker, but they were also paid the same wage as men. Furthermore, it was a forum for such topics as sports, education, politics, etc., all of which were traditionally male topics. The journalists on ''La Fronde'' had to go to great lengths to ensure their access to places which were not open to women, such as Parliament. They would also use pseudonyms, such as Severine, which was the pseudonym of well-known anarchist contributor Caroline Rémy de Guebhard. It was these practices which both concerned and created public interest in the paper. It was widely critiqued as militantly feminist, imitating male styles of writing, and confusing by its representation of conflicting perspectives which lacked continuity. But this last critique was likely in actuality an enactment of the popular strategy in nineteenth century feminism to deconstruct republicanism by pointing out contradictions and inconsistencies. For instance, its inclusion of women who were solely mothers and those in the workforce contested the singularity of women's so-called destiny. ''La Fronde'' monumentally fostered the concept that women were knowledgeable and opinionated on traditionally male issues and spheres, and actively criticized fanciful representations of women in literature and the media.

References

External links

* Digitized issues of ''La Fronde'
(1897–1901)
from issus du fonds de la Bibliothèque Marguerite-Durand Library's collection (Paris).
M.net, ICT Business news and information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fronde, La 1897 establishments in France 1905 disestablishments in France Defunct newspapers published in France Feminism in France Feminist newspapers French Third Republic Publications established in 1897 Publications disestablished in 1905 Newspapers published in Paris