Slander, Scandal, and Sex: The Legacy of Marie Antoinette in Today’s Political Culture
L’Autrichienne. Madame Déficit. Adulteress. Prostitute.
Marie Antoinette was subject to vicious attacks upon her character throughout her reign as queen of France. Many of these attacks were based in fictitious accounts of her sexuality and promiscuity that were then circulated throughout France in order to discredit the increasing amount of power and influence she was beginning to wield in French politics. The tactics that were employed to keep women out of the public sphere in eighteenth century France continue to impact political discourse today in an enduring cultural tradition that seeks to maintain the gendered nature of politics.
Perceptions of a debauched and corrupt French monarchy overwhelmed the minds of the French public in the years preceding the Revolution, and can be attributed predominantly to the unprecedented amount of power Marie Antoinette exercised at court and in politics for a queen. Rousseau propagated a new conception of the role of women in public and political spheres, believing that they should have no role. This was rapidly and enthusiastically adopted by an ‘enlightened’ public that espoused notions of reason and rationality. The health of state and society, it seemed, was dependent on the confinement of women to the domestic sphere due to their corrupting influences.
Growing suspicions of women and their political influence manifested themselves in the production of damaging literature and images targeting Marie-Antoinette. She was subject to sexual slander that accused her of being sexually degenerate and promiscuous. Pornographic pamphlets circulated in underground circles that depicted her in graphic situations ranging from seducing multiple mend to engaging [1] with women she associated with at court, all aimed at debasing her character. The nature of these libelles and pornographic pamphlets forced Marie Antoinette’s body into political discourse and, by extension, the public domain, using the sexual appropriation of her body to degrade her political power. These efforts defamed her character and damaged her reputation, generating intense derision and contempt from the general public. Her political influence was demonised, her person deemed corrupt. And while her husband, King Louis XVI, was also subject to criticism and pamphleteering, the queen experienced a higher level of viciousness and sexualization of her body.
The appropriation of women’s bodies to use as a political tool is a tradition that manifested itself most distinctly in the case of Marie Antoinette, but is one which continues to shape the nature of the political sphere today. Women are continuously discredited in politics through the sexualization and objectification of their bodies. In our culture, it appears to be more acceptable to scrutinise, judge, and make assumptions about the female body than it is to subject the male body to the same treatment. To this day, women’s bodies are used against them to subtly propagate a cycle of inequality and misrepresentation in politics that ultimately serves to reinforce the notion that women do not belong in the public sphere.
But what impact does this have on women’s attempts to assert themselves in politics? How much does this tactic actually influence women’s abilities to participate in social institutions?
The Economist reported that last year in the Iraqi elections that the campaigns of two female candidates were undermined by the circulation of fake explicit videos that featured them. One woman pulled out of the election as a result. Their bodies were appropriated and exploited by a faction of society that sought to deter these women from participating in politics. This is an example that perhaps translates Marie Antoinette’s experiences straight into the modern day, transforming hand-drawn libels into digitally doctored videos. It is a tradition that also permeates political discourse more subtly in the United States. Shortly after announcing her presidential campaign kickoff, Kamala Harris was subject to criticisms that stemmed from her brief relationship with Willie Brown, a California politician. Questions about Harris’ qualifications for the presidency were reduced to her relationship with a man — an intrusion that sexualises her body and diminishes the complexity of her character, thus working to delegitimise her place in politics.
When Lady Macbeth, on the eve of her foray into the politics of Macbeth asked spirits to “unsex” her and strip her of her womanly attributes, it becomes quite easy to understand her desire. Shakespeare’s understanding of gender in politics appears to be astonishingly accurate even by today’s standards. Sexual slander and political misogyny are powerful tools of political manipulation that are frequently employed by those who fear the advancement of women in the public sphere. While our society has evolved to more actively include women in politics and other social institutions, we still sexualise the female body and force it into the political domain in order to discredit women and deter them from entering traditionally ‘masculine’ professional spheres.
Marie Antoinette was the unfortunate victim of an enduring political culture that rejects female power in politics. Her body, the object of false sexual slander, was ultimately used against her in a campaign that undercut her role in public life and led to her downfall. In revealing the continuation of this trend, we should recognise that these sexist double standards have a real effect on the ability of people of all genders and sexualities to secure a voice for themselves in the political sphere.
