The Life of a Political Activist

I was born into a Bourgeois family in 1748. My father worked with meat and my mother was the daughter of a cloth merchant. I married a man I did not love in 1765. His name was Louis Aubry. To explain, I wrote this in my novel (Mémoire de Madame de Valmont contre la famille de Flaucourt), "I was married to a man I did not love and who was neither rich nor well-born. I was sacrificed for no reason that could make up for the repugnance I felt for this man."

Louis died a year later, and left me with our son, with whom I moved to Paris. This is when I changed my name to Olympe de Gouges. Shortly thereafter, I started a relationship with a man named Jacques Biétrix de Rozières.

I currently attend many salons to talk about Enlightenment ideals, and even show some of the playwrights I have created. Here is where many of my closest friends and I chat.

Because I am so avid about spreading the ideal of rights for women, I am a part of the Cercle Social, which is a group intended to advocate women's rights nationwide. I became a member in 1791.

Well, I have a salon meeting at Charlotte-Jeanne Montesson's tonight, and I must start getting ready...

Olympe de Gouge