La femme, la plume et l'épée Un débat entre Marie-Armande Jeanne Gacon- Dufour et Sylvain Maréchal

This article starts from the debate sparked by Sylvain Maréchal’s Projet d’une loi portant défense d’apprendre à lire aux femmes, known for its misogynistic thesis. Starting from the hypothesis that this inflammatory writing can only be fully understood by considering the context in which it is inserted, the article aims to examine it in relation to the responses of Albertine Clément-Hémery and, above all, Marie-Armande Jeanne Gacon-Dufour, who is hypothesized to have worked in synergy with Maréchal. The issue of women’s access to culture and the consequences of their choice to assume, by disguising themselves as men, roles that were forbidden to them in the society of the time, is also addressed through the analysis of two novels, La femme abbé by Maréchal and La femme grenadier by Gacon-Dufour.