Women’s Day: Adèle Haenel stands up and leaves

by Madeleine Larrosa

Partly adapted from a French text by Virginie Despentes for Libération, ‘Césars : «Désormais on se lève et on se barre»‘

Adèle stands up and leaves. She knows more than anyone else that there is no miraculous separation between the man and the artist. She knows that it is one person who buried her alive 20 years ago and it is that same person who has been stopping her from lifting the lid of her coffin ever since. Adèle stands up and leaves, like a warrior in her evening gown and high heels, she walks out telling the world that yes, we are cunts, yes, we are humiliated, yes, we should shut the fuck up and silently accept the violence you spit in our faces, because yes, you are incredibly powerful. But we won’t stay seated with our mouths shut. Now we stand up and leave, rising from the ashes, like ladies on fire.

Madeleine Larrosa is an engaged feminist who believes in the power of arts as activism in an effort to change culture. She is nearing the completion of her PhD in neuroscience.