Circus universe obliges, little magic trick. More specifically, mentalism. You will think very strongly of a clown character. Imagine it in your head, here it is… The red nose, the big shoes, the colored hair… Is it good? Top ! We bet it was a man. If we are 99% sure of having seen it correctly, it is not that we are the new Fabien Olicard, but simply that in popular culture, the female clown does not exist.
However, the character has long since left the circus world in the collective imagination – the Joker in Batman, That in the eponymous work, Baggy in the manga One Piece… To believe that the clown can do absolutely everything, except have two X chromosomes.
Be beautiful, sweet, caring, but don’t be funny
Marie-Garcia Carmen, sociologist at the University of Lyon and author of Contemporary circus artists. Social and practical representations (La Dispute, 2011), sees in it the work of ancestral sexism: “Historically, women have been excluded from humorous practices”. Clowns – cream pie in the face, falling on a banana peel and splashing a little too much garden hose – would be particularly frowned upon, since they amount to “making oneself ugly or ridiculing, which is less frequently desirable in women than in men given the aesthetic expectations for the former. “A few examples of a “woman clown” costume that can be found on the first page of Google search…
An observation shared by Zed Cézard, with triple expertise. Non-binary circus artist, doctor of art science and author of Are clowns politically incorrect? Queer reflections on the clowning practices of women (Total, 2022) and The “New” clowns: sociological approach to the identity, profession and art of the clown today (L’Harmattan, 2014), just to be sure to master your subject. For this specialist, the work of clowns consists in playing “as much with their faults, their shame, their failures as with their successes, their happiness, fully exposing their vulnerabilities, their authenticity and their emotions”. To show oneself open-hearted and friable in short, contrary to female stereotypes, “where the woman must present herself well and behave well”. Ditto for the distribution of social roles: it is up to the man to be “funny, active and productive”.
Women’s revenge?
So much for the collective unconscious. But what about reality? Historically, it is difficult to know how many women have worked in the industry, as the subject was long taboo and the cases invisible – when women were not forced to cross-dress. But as far as the present is concerned, and despite the clichés that are still well anchored – “women have taken over this field and are now more numerous than men to practice the art of clowning”, enthuses Zed Cézard.
This is particularly the case of Meriem Menant, better known by her stage name “Emma the Clown”; who has been pacing the boards for thirty-two years. Classic story of a revelation at 13 during a college theater course: “I made people laugh and I had the click: if that’s what being alive is, I want to live a long time”. Obviously, she recognizes “a double difficulty” in being a woman and a clown, two precarious positions. A way of the cross, but also “a way of life. Would I have been further and better known if I were a man? Yes, probably. If I had only been a female comedian without dressing up as a clown? Surely too. »
But for the artist, the essential is elsewhere. “Women are making more and more room for humor, as everywhere in society,” she smiles behind the makeup. “To make people laugh is to have power over others. It is also to speak. Two demands of women for a long time. »
The victory of numbers but not of stereotypes
But be careful that this victory is not yet another cream pie. Marie-Garcia Carmen: “There are far fewer women than men who make it their job and make a living from it, many are amateurs. Zed Cézard still sees very gendered roles, with women clowns finding themselves massively in internships, training and hospitals. Either “less visible forms, with less financial and social rewards, and consistent with received ideas about the role or preferences that women should have”, necessarily dedicated and turned towards the other.
Blandine, a 34-year-old teacher, works as a clown at the hospital and can only see the glass ceiling at the top of the tent. The CVs they send to diversify – and finally professionalize – her activity remain a dead letter, the doors of circuses seem to be systematically closed and the dreams of living from her passion are slipping away day after day, disappointment after disappointment. “It’s a difficult environment, even more so for us,” she snaps in an anger redder than her nose. “I’m only accepted when it’s free and when it comes to sick children, as if my role as a woman boiled down to me ”treating” with laughter rather than just making people laugh. We want a funny woman, but only if it’s useful, free – and preferably for children, maternal instinct, all that, all that…”
Reclaim the imagination
Blandine still hopes to see “the clown’s Hélène Darroze” appear – an ultra-media starred chef: “She has proven that you can be a woman and an officer in the kitchen. That doesn’t solve everything, but hey… We don’t have a superstar to embody us, and the bosses say to themselves that if there have never been famous women clowns, it’s because they shouldn’t not be good in this role, so we are not given a chance. A snake biting its tail for Zed Cézard: “Since women clowns are not seen, they are not recognized. So they are not supported, so they do not improve their practice or access to key places. So they are not recognized, therefore not seen…”.
Still, for the queer artist, “women are taking up more and more space. Their place “. Even embellished on the side of Marie-Garcia Carmen, who sees “an evolution and more and more contemporary female clowns”.
Nevertheless, to our question, you (surely) thought of a man. And that’s still the whole problem of the environment, concludes Blandine: “It’s all very well to be present in reality, but the imaginary remains ultra-important and decisive. Even more in the cultural environment and that of the circus. If we don’t dream, what good are we? »