ABSTRACT
La Paix des femmes, a French-Canadian play by Véronique Côté, deals with the commodification of women’s bodies. It presents different situations, the main one being prostitution. The title hints at the play’s angle of approach: “Women’s Peace” is the actual name of a law passed in Sweden in 1998, the first of its kind globally, to protect female victims of sexual violence. From the outset, the play’s themes are explored from a feminist standpoint. La Paix des femmes deals with sex acts in the dialogue and describes them in contexts that allow the spectator to measure their personal psychological impact, whether short- or long-term, insidious or glaring. It also examines the complex notions of consent and agency. Not only does the subject matter of the play spark debate, but the verbal clashes between some of the characters also embody that dynamic, bringing together different feminist points of view. The play’s premiere for the media was marked by a demonstration that was itself aestheticized: as many critics reported, at the precise moment of the show’s climax, fourteen prostitutes sitting in the front row stood up simultaneously, opened red umbrellas and shouted, “My job, my choice!,” showing how polarizing the subject is.
