Abstract

This article contains a cross-cultural comparison of constructions of politically militant women, beginning with Charlotte Corday of the French Revolution, continuing with Louise Michel of the 1871 Paris Commune, and concluding with Emmeline Pankhurst and the British suffragettes. The study reveals that as Michel's opponents attempted to ridicule and discredit her, they resurrected representations of Corday, modifying and aging them to fit her. The suffragettes' opponents similarly resurrected representations of Michel to ridicule them, but not as successfully. In response, Pankhurst's and the suffragettes' self-representations skillfully countered the anti-suffragists' dated and inaccurate representations of militant women as unhappy and unattractive spinsters.

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