ABSTRACT
Apart from caricatures, until the 1960s, framed by various laws protecting the children in the francophone countries (Belgium, France, Switzerland), French comics (i.e., bande dessinée or BD), which were mostly for children and family, were essentially asexual. From the 1960s onward, influenced and influencing the so-called sexual revolution (which was mostly a male heteronormative sexual revolution), more and more progressive-narrative BDs were published where women were positive protagonists but visually objectified and sexualized. By the end of the 1960s, the few women involved in the French comics world came out with some comics challenging sexual and gender roles including the short-lived feminist magazine Ah Nana! (1972–1975) and long-lived Claire Bretécher’s sociological strips (1970s–2000s). However, it is not until the 1990s that non-heteronormative representations came out, including for example Fabrice Néaud’s gay Journal and Julie Maroh’s lesbian story, Le Bleu est une couleur chaude.
