More than 250 anti-femicide posters have appeared in the streets of Paris since the end of August in a campaign launched by women who want to pay "homage to the victims" and "make passers-by and public authorities react", reports FRANCE 24.
Yvonne was 76, Mélissa was 26, Denise was 38, and Corinne was just 18 years old when they were killed by their partner or former partners. The names of these women, and dozens of other victims, have been meticulously recorded on the cobblestoned wall of Jardin Denfert, a convent-turned-art collective in Paris’s 14th arrondissement (district) on the French capital’s left bank. Since August 30th, dozens of women have gathered there every afternoon in a bid to engage people with France’s femicide problem.
As of September 7th, a total of 102 women have been killed in France since the beginning of the year, according to the NGO “Féminicides par compagnons ou ex” (Femicides committed by partners or exes). “Since the government announced its plans to tackle domestic violence [on July 6th] and the measures having been put in place [on September 3rd], 26 women have been killed. It’s crazy, there’s reason for anger,” exclaims 28-year-old Marguerite Stern, a former Femen podcast producer and one of the founders of the poster campaign.
Some 15 women are gathered at Jardin Denfert to make posters. Spread out across three rooms, the women sit cross-legged as they carefully paint anti-femicide slogans onto white cardboards using black paint. They work in silence, reflecting the seriousness of the messages they are writing. “She leaves him, he kills her.” “In France, a femicide is committed every two days.” “Céline, victim No. 19, was killed by her husband."
“We have written messages for all the women who have been killed since the start of the year,” 26-year-old parliamentary assistant Sophia Hocini explains. Together with Stern, Hocini has been part of the non-authorised poster campaign since it started. At first she thought “we’d have no more than ten women” taking part. “I was surprised to see the engagement this is generating. At the same time it's a new way for us to draw attention [to this issue].”
Some of the women working on their posters have been there since the start of the campaign. Others are there for the first time. Although they might not all be activists, or share the same opinions on other issues, they are united in the battle against femicide. “It’s an issue that touches all of us,” 24-year-old engineering student Rachel says. “When you hear the witness statements [of people close to the victims], you tell yourself that it could happen to anyone; to you, or someone close to you.” For Rachel, the campaign is also symbolic in the sense that it allows women to reclaim the public space. “I’ve already been assaulted in the street several times; men who touch themselves in front of me, and others who have tried to hit me,” she says. “I’m not the only woman this has happened to, and so this is a good way for us to reclaim the streets.”