Marie Huot | |
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| Born | Mathilde Marie Constance Ménétrier 28 June 1846 Yonne, France |
| Died | 13 April 1930 (1930-04-14) (aged 83) Paris, France |
| Occupation(s) | Activist, writer |
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Marie Huot (bornMathilde Marie Constance Ménétrier; 28 June 1846 – 13 April 1930) was a French poet, writer, feminist, andanimal rights andvegetarianism activist.
Mathilde Marie Constance Ménétrier was born in 1846. In 1869, she married Anatole-Théodore-Marie Huot, the editor of the leftist Parisian review,L'Encyclopédie Contemporaine Illustrée.[1] She was a close friend of the Swedish anarchist and impressionist painterIvan Aguéli, whom she indirectly introduced toSufism[2] and to whom she dedicated her collection of Symbolist poemsLe Missel de Notre-Dame des Solitudes ("The Missal of Our Lady of Solitudes").[3]
Huot was an advocate for animal rights and member of the Parisian animal protection society,[4] founder of the Popular League against Vivisection[5] and France's first hospice for animals.[2] She was famous for a number of spectacular activist actions. In 1886, she interrupted a lecture byLouis Pasteur at theSorbonne University, forusing dogs in animal testing.[2] Once, atCollège de France, she hit the Mauritian scientistCharles-Édouard Brown-Séquard over the head with a parasol for having performed a vivisection on a monkey.[4] In 1900, she helped Ivan Aguéli in his attack on two matadors at a Frenchbullfight.[2]
Active in the FrenchNeo-Malthusianism movement, Huot was the originator of the expression "la grève des ventres" ("strike of the bellies" or "birth strike").[6] In 1892, Huot delivered a public conference, in which she demanded free access to abortion and contraception.[5] At this conference, Huot also advocated for the voluntary extinction of the human race by refusal to procreate, both out of compassion for human suffering and the suffering that humans inflict on animals. This was later published, in 1909, asLe Mal de Vivre ("The Pain of Living").[7]
À mon frère d'armes, à l'artiste fervent Ivan Aguéli (en religion Abdul Hâdi) [To my brother in arms, to the 'fervent artist Ivan Aguéli (in religion Abdul Hâdi)']
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