Les Cahiers du GRIF was a French language feminist periodical that examined women's views and relationship to the world. It included themes of politics and labor while also examining kinship, love, sexuality, and other matters. Founded in 1973 in Brussels by Françoise Collin, it was one of the first journals of feminist thought published in the French language.
Twenty-four issues were printed in Brussels between 1973 and 1978, with varying topics. The contributors chose to use language that did not insult potential male readers, but the first series did not allow any publication of men's writing.
In 1978, publication stopped while the women involved with Les Cahiers pursued other feminist endeavors, including founding the GRIF-University for Women. In the interim years, GRIF-U published seven newsletters under the title Les Bulletins du GRIF.
In 1982, Collin moved to Paris, taking Les Cahiers with her. A total of forty-eight issues were printed between 1973 and 1994, with three more printed in 1996 and 1997.
During the course of its publication, Les Cahiers organised seminars and helped evaluate the lack of women's studies in Europe, leading to a 1989 conference in Brussels that itself led to the establishment of the GRACE database. A GRIF meeting brought attention to the need for a change in Belgian law with respect to the definition of rape, which happened 4 July 1989. The journal also helped raise awareness of the plight of women in Lebanon in 1990.
History While visiting New York City in 1972, Collin became exposed to American feminism. In 1973, Collin formed a feminist organization in Brussels called the Feminist Research and Information Group (GRIF). It brought together , Marie Denis, , Geneviève Simon, , Jeanne Vercheval, Eliane Boucquey, , and Marthe Van de Meulebroeke.
Together, the women of GRIF created a new journal, Les Cahiers du GRIF, or The GRIF Notebooks, one of the first journals of feminist thought published in the French language. The first meeting regarding establishment of Les Cahiers occurred in Collin's Brussels basement, with the gathered women funding the endeavor themselves.
The first issue, printed in October 1973, was distributed at the second Women's Day in Belgium, 11 November 1973. The second issue was distributed in both Brussels and at the Paris Maspero bookstore. Les Cahiers quickly gained a reputation of "considerable renown", especially in the Francophonie, drawing readers who may have been offput by the Et ta soeur? (And you sister?) feminist magazine.
Between 1973 and 1978, twenty-four issues of the magazine had been printed in Brussels, with topics that ranged from theory to more practical issues and presented readers with works by women artists. During these years, no men were allowed to participate in any way in the magazine. Due to the publishing group's exhaustion, and overall change in feminism and how the movement was spreading, Les Cahiers was discontinued at the end of 1978.
Though no issues of Les Cahiers were printed between 1978 and 1982, the women involved with it through 1978 were active in other endeavors, including organising seminars which included speakers such as Nicole-Claude Mathieu and Leïla Sebbar. Several women involved with the magazine organised a conference in Wépion from 31 October to 4 November 1979 to continue the spread of feminism, with the goal of one conference per year. They even founded other feminist magazines, such as (Vowels) and Chronique féministe (Feminist Chronicles), as well as the GRIF-University for Women. GRIF-U published seven newsletters under the title Les Bulletins du GRIF during these interim years. When GRIF and the university separated in 1982, the Chronique féministe was the official journal of the university.
In 1982, the magazine began printing again, with the second series running through 1994. The Feminist Review announced the new printings in their Summer 1983 issue, giving a Brussels address, though the second printing occurred in Paris. Despite the move, GRIF retained a Brussels location.
The magazine allowed male contributors during the Paris publication years, though very few. The magazine was published by Tierce Press during this period, bringing the total number of issues between both the Brussels and Paris publications to forty-eight. Considered a thematic journal, Les Cahiers outlasted several other Parisian feminist publications of the same genre.
The final series consisted of only three issues, printed in 1996 and 1997.
Circulation The first issue printed 1,500 copies for sale on 11 November 1973, and the press run sold out that same evening.
Les Cahiers subsequently printed between 1000 and 6000 copies per issue, and rapidly became the Belgian feminist journal with the broadest distribution.
Annual subscriptions initially cost by land mail and by air mail. At that time, Les Cahiers distributed its magazine quarterly.
Content Les Cahiers initially centered on the problems of the status of women, as well as the whole of society. The magazine brought neofeminist thought and analyses to the public. Themes included both professional and household work; politics; language; family; the female body; lesbianism; sexuality; religion; art; and social conflicts, among other topics.
The magazine did include material that appealed to academics, but it also focused on art, books, and films, and included photographs of womens' daily lives. Les Cahiers utilised the personal accounts of its contributors as a vehicle for praxis. It examined broader societal issues from the point of view of women or gender, intent on addressing patriarchical norms while simultaneously finding a means of changing the world at large so that women would no longer be constrained by those limitations. Some articles were annotated in margins which took up one third of each page and aided in encouraging reflection without producing "monolithic thought".
While the publication did welcome international contributions, the editors did not align themselves with radical movements, though there was a distrust of the criminal justice system among the contributing writers. Though the first series did not allow male contributors, it did address itself to all readers, and elected to not use language that denigrated men.
The first issue raised the question "What is feminism for?" and encouraged stating goals that were common among the journal's wide audience. An article by Collin discussed the "cultural character of sex", specifically addressing intersex persons. Les Cahiers addressed the question of home economics being work or not in 1974, providing detailed accounts of the hours and tasks involved in domestic labor. The same issue included an analysis of hours spent in both the home and professional labor spheres. The second issue included an account from the 1973 Women's Day debates where Les Cahiers had invited men present to participate in a discussion of "Men and Women", pointing out that feminism must acknowledge that it concerns the whole of society. Collin's commentary noted that the men who spoke were only slightly patronising and offered sympathy rather than the aggressive, ironic questions that had been expected.
The 1976 issue of Les Cahiers titled "Do you speak French?" discussed the issues of how language can be used to enforce male dominance. Directly addressing the structure of the French language with respect to feminism, specifically commenting in regard to the "mute e", Collin asked if women were to be considered nothing more than "mute e"s due to their exclusion. Luce Irigaray's "When our lips speak to one another" examined women's communication with each other verbally and sexually, and Ida Magli's "Power in the speech and silence of women" printed in that issue discussed the women's objectification and subjugation through language. It also included an interview with Maria Antonietta Macciocchi on fascism.
In a departure from other feminist publications of the era, Les Cahiers allowed bylines to be printed, with the margin notes showing the collective had been involved. Among the first series' published writers were Elena Gianini Belotti, Nicole Brossard, Hélène Cixous, Nancy Huston, Julia Kristeva, , Agnès Varda, Jacqueline Coutras, Jeanne Fagnini, Françoise d'Eaubonne, Leïla Sebbar, and Frédérique Vinteuil. Authors for the second series included Jutta Brückner, Françoise Héritier, Delphine Seyrig, Barbara Cassin, , Rada Iveković, , Christine Planté, , and Eleni Varikas. Among the male authors printed in this series was Claude Javeau, discussing the writings of Georg Simmel.
Les Cahiers included feminist writings from such authors as Gertrude Stein. It was also instrumental in the spread of Hannah Arendt's works, translated into French.
Composition The core editorial committee consisted of five women: Aubenas, Boucquey, Collin, Cuvelliez, and Peemans-Poullet. Beginning after the publication of the fourth issue in October 1974, meetings to discuss the articles for the next issue's publication were held at the Women's House in Brussels and included around ten women on average, sometimes more if that issue's themes required it. The women involved did not all subscribe to the same feminist ideologies, nor were they necessarily of the same socio-economic background. As a result, being able to speak freely was a necessity. Those present discussed the theme set for that meeting. These debates were recorded and later analysed, from which the editorial pieces in each issue arose.
Members of would attend the meetings to discuss articles for publication, opening an issue to discussions of labor rights. Raymonde Harvengt, Christiane Rigomont, and Vercheval all wanted to make certain that the magazine never eschewed either the working class or the Bourgeoisie. Issues like "Women Celebrate, Women Strike" embodied this ideology.
The editorial staff encouraged a broad collaboration to enrich the magazine, including asking its readers to participate in the discourse of issues addressed in the journal. The staff organised public discussions after the publication of each issue. One such debate in 1975 resulted in three further articles being published over 1975–1976 within the magazine.
Impact Les Cahiers played an essential part in the women's movement of the 1970s, and then for feminist research into the 1980s. It provided a vehicle for discussions of gender studies before the topic was added to a university curriculum.
In January 1976, a Brazilian student named Eliana was brought to a GRIF meeting by her lawyer, Annie Luciana. Eliana had been hitchhiking in Brussels when she was forced at gunpoint to enter a wooded area, beaten, and tied to a tree, before being raped with a stick. However, Belgian law did not recognize the violation as rape. Women Overseas for Equality's founder, Lydia Horton, traveled to Charleroi with other women from the meeting. There, she spoke to the King's Prosecutor. A group of rape survivors testified as to the circumstances and aftermath of the crimes committed against them and demonstrated a need for the law to be changed. , Miet Smet, André Bourgeois, and Leona Detiège proposed Parliamentary document 45K0166 on 23 February 1982. The definition of rape in Belgian law was expanded on 4 July 1989.