La violence sexuelle et la domination patriarcale dans Vie de femme, vie de sang d'Azaratou Baboni

Abstract

Sexual violence has been recognized as one of the most pervasive forms of domestic violence against women and has remained deeply rooted in patriarchal societies. Although African literary scholarship has extensively examined physical, emotional, psychological, and economic violence, sexual violence in Azaratou Baboni’s Vie de femme, vie de sang has received limited critical attention. This study therefore examined the representation of sexual violence in the novel through Catharine MacKinnon’s Radical Feminist Theory of Sexual Politics by identifying the forms of sexual violence represented in the novel and analyse how they have functioned as mechanisms of patriarchal domination. A qualitative research design based on textual analysis has been adopted to interpret selected passages from the novel. The findings revealed that sexual coercion, non-consensual marital sexual relations, violation of bodily autonomy, sexual objectification, and patriarchal sexual domination have functioned as interconnected mechanisms through which male authority has been sustained. The analysis has further demonstrated that these practices have deprived the female protagonist of dignity, agency, and meaningful consent while reinforcing unequal gender relations. Baboni has challenged the normalization of marital sexual abuse by foregrounding the protagonist’s lived experiences and exposing the structural nature of patriarchal oppression. The study has concluded that sexual violence has constituted a systemic instrument of patriarchal domination rather than isolated acts of abuse. It recommended increased scholarly attention to sexual violence in African literature, greater recognition of marital sexual violence as a violation of women’s rights, and broader application of feminist theories in Francophone African literary studies.