Front homosexuel d'action révolutionnaire
Encyclopedia
The front homosexuel d'action révolutionnaire (Homosexual Front for Revolutionary Action) (FHAR) was a loose Parisian movement founded in 1971, resulting from a rapprochement between lesbian feminists
and gay activists. If the movement could be considered to have leaders, they were Guy Hocquenghem
and Françoise d'Eaubonne
, while other members included Christine Delphy
, Daniel Guérin
, and Laurent Dispot. It had disappeared by 1976.
The FHAR are known for having given radical visibility to homosexuals during the 1970s in the wake of student and proletarian uprisings of 1968, which had given little space to the liberation of women and homosexuals. Breaking with older homosexual groups which were more hidden and sometimes conservative, they asserted the subversion of the bourgeois and hetero–patriarchal state
, as well as the inversion of chauvinistic and homophobic values common of the left
and extreme left.
The outrageous aspect (vis-à-vis the authorities) of the male sexual encounters which were held, and the increasing prevalence of the men (which inevitably gradually obscured the feminist questions and lesbian voices), eventually brought about the group's disintegration. In its wake appeared the Groupe de libération homosexuelle (GLH) and the Gouines rouges
within the Mouvement de Libération des Femmes (MLF).
Action) posted at the Sorbonne
during May 1968. The group organized meetings at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
in Paris.
On the 5th March, 1971, the group interrupted a meeting against the right of abortion
, and on the 10th March it attracted public attention by disturbing and stopping a broadcast of Ménie Gregoire on the topic of the homosexuality being broadcast on Radio Luxembourg
.
The name which they gave themselves, "Front Homosexuel d'Action Révolutionnaire", reduced to initialism FHAR, was nevertheless registered officially as "Fédération Humaniste Anti-Raciste". The group also communicated through the leftist
newspaper, Tout. It asserted the sexual freedom of all individuals. A declaration refers to Manifeste des 343 salopes (English: Manifesto of the 343 sluts):
This work was seized by the police
, and the director of publication, Jean-Paul Sartre
, was prosecuted. However, the FHAR dropped in on the Constitutional Council
to declare the attacks on freedom of expression unconstitutional, and in July 1971 the investigation was stopped.
FHAR denounced heterosexism
and the medicalization
of homosexuality. In 1971, they disturbed the international Congress of sexology
in Sanremo
. They also intervened in communist
political meetings, in particular with Mutualité where Jacques Duclos
said to them: "Allez vous faire soigner, bande de pédérastes, le PCF est sain!" (English: Go get yourself cured, you band of pederasts; the PCF
is healthy!)
splinter group in June 1971 ("gouines" is slang French for "Lesbian"), with the aim of fighting more against sexism
and it male chauvinism/androcracy
.
Other groups became conspicuous: Gazolines, the newspapers Fléau social and Antinorm. They still published a Rapport contre la normalité in 1971 and one thick special number of the review Research
directed by Félix Guattari
in 1973.
All these groups were, however, recognized under the slogans of the FHAR ("Prolétaires de tous les pays, caressez-vous !" / Workers of the world, caress yourselves! ("caressez-vous" also being a French slang expression meaning "to masturbate"), "Lesbiennes et pédés, arrêtons de raser les murs !" / Lesbians and fags, let us stop keeping a low profile) and the fight against the "hétéro-flics" (hetero–cops
).
because of excesses by Gazolines on the occasion of the burial of a Maoist
killed by a vigilante in 1972, but also Françoise d'Eaubonne
, who saw it as no longer anything but a place for flirting.
The police banned the meetings at the école des Beaux-Arts in February 1974, and FHAR gave up its spectacular actions.
The FHAR has descendants. Its claims, quite different from the call for social tolerance by the group Arcadie Club
, were followed by homosexual associations and groups in the 1980s, such as Universités d’été euroméditerranéennes des homosexualités and Comité d'Urgence Anti-Répression Homosexuelle (CUARH) in 1979, or the magazine Gai pied
.
The movement's radicalism and high politicisation were also taken up by LGBT
movements in the 1990s, inspiring in part the current queer
movement in the United States of America and France.
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
and gay activists. If the movement could be considered to have leaders, they were Guy Hocquenghem
Guy Hocquenghem
Guy Hocquenghem was a French writer and queer theorist.-Biography:Guy Hocquenghem was born in the suburbs of Paris and was educated at the Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux and the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. At the age of fifteen he began an affair with his high school philosophy teacher, René...
and Françoise d'Eaubonne
Françoise d'Eaubonne
Françoise d'Eaubonne was a French feminist, who introduced the term ecofeminism in 1974....
, while other members included Christine Delphy
Christine Delphy
Christine Delphy is a French sociologist, feminist, writer and theorist. She was a co-founder of the review Nouvelles questions féministes with Simone de Beauvoir in 1977.-Biography:...
, Daniel Guérin
Daniel Guérin
Daniel Guérin was a French libertarian and author, best known for his work Anarchism: From Theory to Practice, as well as his collection No Gods No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism in which he collected writings on the idea and movement it inspired, from the first writings of Max Stirner in the...
, and Laurent Dispot. It had disappeared by 1976.
The FHAR are known for having given radical visibility to homosexuals during the 1970s in the wake of student and proletarian uprisings of 1968, which had given little space to the liberation of women and homosexuals. Breaking with older homosexual groups which were more hidden and sometimes conservative, they asserted the subversion of the bourgeois and hetero–patriarchal state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
, as well as the inversion of chauvinistic and homophobic values common of the left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
and extreme left.
The outrageous aspect (vis-à-vis the authorities) of the male sexual encounters which were held, and the increasing prevalence of the men (which inevitably gradually obscured the feminist questions and lesbian voices), eventually brought about the group's disintegration. In its wake appeared the Groupe de libération homosexuelle (GLH) and the Gouines rouges
Gouines rouges
The Gouines Rouges are a French radical feminist lesbian movement.The Gouines Rouges were founded in April 1971, responding to a desire to assert themselves in the heart of both the feminist movement and the homosexual movement, and the fear that lesbians were in danger of disappearing.- History...
within the Mouvement de Libération des Femmes (MLF).
Birth and beginning
The group was originally formed by an alliance of feminists of the MLF and lesbians coming from the association Arcadie, who were joined by homosexuals in February 1971. But the trigger would be a poster of "Comité d'action pédérastique révolutionnaire" (English: Committee of Revolutionary PederasticPederasty
Pederasty or paederasty is an intimate relationship between an adult and an adolescent boy outside his immediate family. The word pederasty derives from Greek "love of boys", a compound derived from "child, boy" and "lover".Historically, pederasty has existed as a variety of customs and...
Action) posted at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
during May 1968. The group organized meetings at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts
The École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts is the distinguished National School of Fine Arts in Paris, France.The École des Beaux-arts is made up of a vast complex of buildings located at 14 rue Bonaparte, between the quai Malaquais and the rue Bonaparte, in the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Près,...
in Paris.
On the 5th March, 1971, the group interrupted a meeting against the right of abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
, and on the 10th March it attracted public attention by disturbing and stopping a broadcast of Ménie Gregoire on the topic of the homosexuality being broadcast on Radio Luxembourg
RTL (French radio)
In France, RTL is a popular nation-wide commercial radio network owned by the RTL Group.In 1931, Radio Luxembourg, the public radio network from Luxembourg, was privatised. Beginning in 1946, it could be heard easily in France. Until the 1980s, only the French public radio networks could transmit...
.
The name which they gave themselves, "Front Homosexuel d'Action Révolutionnaire", reduced to initialism FHAR, was nevertheless registered officially as "Fédération Humaniste Anti-Raciste". The group also communicated through the leftist
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
newspaper, Tout. It asserted the sexual freedom of all individuals. A declaration refers to Manifeste des 343 salopes (English: Manifesto of the 343 sluts):
This work was seized by the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
, and the director of publication, Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Sartre
Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
, was prosecuted. However, the FHAR dropped in on the Constitutional Council
Constitutional Council of France
The Constitutional Council is the highest constitutional authority in France. It was established by the Constitution of the Fifth Republic on 4 October 1958, and its duty is to ensure that the principles and rules of the constitution are upheld.Its main activity is to rule on whether proposed...
to declare the attacks on freedom of expression unconstitutional, and in July 1971 the investigation was stopped.
FHAR denounced heterosexism
Heterosexism
Heterosexism is a system of attitudes, bias, and discrimination in favor of opposite-sex sexuality and relationships. It can include the presumption that everyone is heterosexual or that opposite-sex attractions and relationships are the only norm and therefore superior...
and the medicalization
Medicalization
Medicalization is the process by which human conditions and problems come to be defined and treated as medical conditions and problems, and thus come under the authority of doctors and other health professionals to study, diagnose, prevent or treat...
of homosexuality. In 1971, they disturbed the international Congress of sexology
Sexology
Sexology is the scientific study of human sexuality, including human sexual interests, behavior, and function. The term does not generally refer to the non-scientific study of sex, such as political analysis or social criticism....
in Sanremo
Sanremo
Sanremo or San Remo is a city with about 57,000 inhabitants on the Mediterranean coast of western Liguria in north-western Italy. Founded in Roman times, the city is best known as a tourist destination on the Italian Riviera. It hosts numerous cultural events, such as the Sanremo Music Festival...
. They also intervened in communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
political meetings, in particular with Mutualité where Jacques Duclos
Jacques Duclos
Jacques Duclos was a French Communist politician who played a key role in French politics from 1926, when he entered the French National Assembly after defeating Paul Reynaud, until 1969, when he won a substantial portion of the vote in the presidential elections.During World War I, Duclos fought...
said to them: "Allez vous faire soigner, bande de pédérastes, le PCF est sain!" (English: Go get yourself cured, you band of pederasts; the PCF
French Communist Party
The French Communist Party is a political party in France which advocates the principles of communism.Although its electoral support has declined in recent decades, the PCF retains a large membership, behind only that of the Union for a Popular Movement , and considerable influence in French...
is healthy!)
Dissension
The growing power of men in the group led many women of the FHAR to break off, forming the Gouines rougesGouines rouges
The Gouines Rouges are a French radical feminist lesbian movement.The Gouines Rouges were founded in April 1971, responding to a desire to assert themselves in the heart of both the feminist movement and the homosexual movement, and the fear that lesbians were in danger of disappearing.- History...
splinter group in June 1971 ("gouines" is slang French for "Lesbian"), with the aim of fighting more against sexism
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
and it male chauvinism/androcracy
Androcracy
Androcracy or andrarchy is a form of government in which the government rulers are male. This term derives from the Greek root words andros, or "man", and krateo , or "to rule".-Example:...
.
Other groups became conspicuous: Gazolines, the newspapers Fléau social and Antinorm. They still published a Rapport contre la normalité in 1971 and one thick special number of the review Research
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
directed by Félix Guattari
Félix Guattari
Pierre-Félix Guattari was a French militant, an institutional psychotherapist, philosopher, and semiotician; he founded both schizoanalysis and ecosophy...
in 1973.
All these groups were, however, recognized under the slogans of the FHAR ("Prolétaires de tous les pays, caressez-vous !" / Workers of the world, caress yourselves! ("caressez-vous" also being a French slang expression meaning "to masturbate"), "Lesbiennes et pédés, arrêtons de raser les murs !" / Lesbians and fags, let us stop keeping a low profile) and the fight against the "hétéro-flics" (hetero–cops
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
).
Decline and posterity
Members of the group started to leave: Daniel GuérinDaniel Guérin
Daniel Guérin was a French libertarian and author, best known for his work Anarchism: From Theory to Practice, as well as his collection No Gods No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism in which he collected writings on the idea and movement it inspired, from the first writings of Max Stirner in the...
because of excesses by Gazolines on the occasion of the burial of a Maoist
Maoism
Maoism, also known as the Mao Zedong Thought , is claimed by Maoists as an anti-Revisionist form of Marxist communist theory, derived from the teachings of the Chinese political leader Mao Zedong . Developed during the 1950s and 1960s, it was widely applied as the political and military guiding...
killed by a vigilante in 1972, but also Françoise d'Eaubonne
Françoise d'Eaubonne
Françoise d'Eaubonne was a French feminist, who introduced the term ecofeminism in 1974....
, who saw it as no longer anything but a place for flirting.
The police banned the meetings at the école des Beaux-Arts in February 1974, and FHAR gave up its spectacular actions.
The FHAR has descendants. Its claims, quite different from the call for social tolerance by the group Arcadie Club
Arcadie Club
The Arcadie Club was a French homophile organization established in the early 1950s by André Baudry, an ex-seminarian and philosophy professor.-Literary review:...
, were followed by homosexual associations and groups in the 1980s, such as Universités d’été euroméditerranéennes des homosexualités and Comité d'Urgence Anti-Répression Homosexuelle (CUARH) in 1979, or the magazine Gai pied
Gai pied
Gai pied or Gai pied hebdo was a monthly French gay magazine, founded by Jean Le Bitoux. Its name, which literally means "Gay foot", is a homophone of guêpier, which means a hornet's nest or, figuratively, a trap or pitfall — a reference to the magazine's determination to torment the...
.
The movement's radicalism and high politicisation were also taken up by LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
movements in the 1990s, inspiring in part the current queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
movement in the United States of America and France.
Filmography
- FHAR (1971), a 26 minute black and white documentary of the first meetings and demonstrations of the FHAR, by Carole Roussopoulos
- Race d'Ep, Un siècle d'image de l'homosexualité (1979), docudramaDocudramaIn film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
by Lionel Soukaz and Guy HocquenghemGuy HocquenghemGuy Hocquenghem was a French writer and queer theorist.-Biography:Guy Hocquenghem was born in the suburbs of Paris and was educated at the Lycée Lakanal in Sceaux and the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. At the age of fifteen he began an affair with his high school philosophy teacher, René... - Bleu, blanc, rose (2000), documentary by Yves JeulandYves JeulandYves Jeuland is a French director of documentary films, who has directed Bleu, blanc, rose on the history of the French gay movement and Comme un Juif en France a three-hour documentary on the history of Jews and anti-Semitism in France from the 19th century to the present day. The film had its U.S...
on the French gay movement - My Super 8 Season Ma saison super 8 (2005), directed by Alessandro AvellisAlessandro AvellisAlessandro Avellis is an Italian film director.Alessandro Avellis studied film direction in Rome. Since 2000 he lives in Paris. He directed some short films selected and awarded in several international film festivals, of which Lovstori, selected in 1996 at the Sacher festival of Nanni Moretti,...
(2005), a drama inspired by the FHAR - The revolution of desire La révolution du désir (2006), documentary directed by Alessandro AvellisAlessandro AvellisAlessandro Avellis is an Italian film director.Alessandro Avellis studied film direction in Rome. Since 2000 he lives in Paris. He directed some short films selected and awarded in several international film festivals, of which Lovstori, selected in 1996 at the Sacher festival of Nanni Moretti,...
Stemming from FHAR
- « Libre disposition de notre corps », Tout, n° 12, 23 avril 1971.
- FHAR, Rapport contre la normalité, Paris, Champ libre, 1971.
- Dossier « Trois milliards de pervers. Grande encyclopédie des homosexualités », Recherches, mars 1973.
On the FHAR
- Jacques Girard, Le Mouvement homosexuel en France, 1945-1981, Paris, Syros, 1981.
- Scott Gunther, "The Elastic Closet: A History of Homosexuality in France, 1942-present" Book about the history of homosexual movements in France (sample chapter available online). New York: Palgrave-Macmillan, 2009. ISBN 023022105X
- Masques, revue des Homosexualités, n°9/10, Paris, 1981.
- Françoise d'Eaubonne, « Le FHAR, origines et illustration », la Revue h, n° 2, 1996.
- Didier Eribon, « FHAR », Dictionnaire des cultures gays et lesbiennes, Larousse, 2003.
- Michael Sibalis, « Gay Liberation Comes to France: The Front Homosexuel d’Action Révolutionnaire (FHAR) », French History and Civilization, 2005.
See also
- New social movementsNew social movementsThe term new social movements is a theory of social movements that attempts to explain the plethora of new movements that have come up in various western societies roughly since the mid-1960s which are claimed to depart significantly from the conventional social movement paradigm.There are two...
- LGBT social movementsLGBT social movementsLesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender social movements share inter-related goals of social acceptance of sexual and gender minorities. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and their allies have a long history of campaigning for what is generally called LGBT rights, also called gay...