Nonconformist acts of self-assertion by women were seen assignsofdevianceorrevolt,arejectionoradenialoftheirassignedrolein the domestic realm. Notions of “normality” for women, eey medical theorists and popularized by philosophers, politicians and epress, resulted in increased social, moral (and subsequent legal) repression o women who sought to play an active role in the Revolution as wnters or as political activists. i h H Thediscourseonuniversalrightswhichredefinedgenderanprecue women from participating in the body politic was ommpresent^ Gouges’s adult life in Paris. It is here tliat she would write forty-one plays, twenty-nine worksofproseandsixty-threepoliticalpamphlets,takingunpopularstances ondifficultissuesconcerningwomen’srightsandtheabolitionofslavery,n this context, she assumed the pseudonym “Olympe de Gouges, creating a newidentitythatwastobecomethetargetofrelentlessattacksresting finally in her execution in 1793. Get oubli de son sexe I’a conduite 4 r^chafeud.” (Pierre Chaumette 1793)» c a r e s Whowasthisremarkablewoman,thisrevolutionaryamazonwhofailedto understandthedutiesofhergender?Inwhatwayshouldwe“neverforget thiscontroversial“virago”?HowisitthatMarieGouze,arelativelyun knowncountrygirlwithlittlemeansandevenlesseducationwasabeto provokesuchireamongsthercontemporaries?Inherearlytwenties,er her short-lived marriage ended, Marie Gouze established her residence m Paris,whereshewouldeventuallyembarkuponacareerasawnteranrevo lutionary activist. 2, 2002 Olympe de Gouges: Feminine Sensibility and Political Posturing Lisa Beckstrand C O N C O R D I A C O L L E G E Rappclez-vous cette virago, cette femme-homme, rimpudente Olympe de Gouges, qui abandonna les soinsdesonmanage,voulutpolitiqueretcommit des crimes.

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