It started with an immense frustration with the French language: the impression of not finding one’s place there, the expression of one’s reality. Finally, Camille Aumont Carnel found the words to say it, those which speak of female sexuality. These are The words of Qwhich are published by Le Robert.
In this first title of a collection which promises to shake up minds, she corrects and explores. The periods, often unpredictable, are renamed “irregulars”. And Camille strips them of the shame that accompanies them by proclaiming “periodic sass”, which is an expression to describe the attitude of any person wearing light-colored clothing during their menstrual period.
Camille Aumont Carnel also claims a feminine version of vulgarity, which responds to that which designates “con”, vulgar name of the woman’s sex, everything which (always according to The Robert) is “imbecile”, “idiot”, “poorly done”, “ridiculous”, “inept”. She suggests “I don’t give a damn” as a replacement for “nothing to give a fuck”, and also “I don’t give a damn about the clit”, which is also the title of the Instagram account she has maintained since 2018, rather than “to give a damn”.
Legitimate vulgarity
“Sometimes, people say to me: “[Ta démarche]it’s still a little bit trash”, says the 27-year-old author, met during her tour in Quebec. I say no, it’s just vulgar. Vulgarity exists. I’m not saying that it doesn’t exist for men; the point is that it also exists for us. »
“Sometimes we say it’s a lack of respect. Well, why not? It will legitimize a form of anger that we still forbid ourselves a lot. Because a woman must be calm and peaceful…” she proclaims.
Born in Niger and adopted in this country by a French couple working for National Education, Camille Aumont Carnel also lived in Spain and Madagascar. She speaks French, English and Spanish. But his most problematic relationship is with the first. “I would say that English is a language which, through its neutrality, includes – well, induces – a form of inclusion. Spanish is a language that I find dense, and through its density, there is a form, there is an egalitarian dimension. French is a language that is unfair and, above all, insulting. The first memory I have is when I was 6 years old and I was told that masculine prevails over feminine. When I am taught to write, therefore, there is even a form of sexism. And we say it without ever having nuances and without ever having a downside,” she says.
It was Bérengère Baucher, former lexicologist and head of the new Dire c’est Act collection published by Le Robert, who approached Camille Aumont Carnel to write these Words from Q. This collection appeals to young influencers, entrepreneurs and content creators. “It’s quite impressive to deal with a generation that says what it does at the same time,” she says.
Mme Baucher admits in an interview: the collection she is piloting also has the mission of re-evaluating the notion of a dictionary among young people. “Sometimes, when the word “dictionary” is mentioned, younger generations often imagine big, dusty books that are relegated to the dark corners of our grandparents’ libraries or bookstores. I have an immoderate love for dictionaries, but the dictionary, among the younger generations, is a little dormant. I wanted to wake them up with a collection that re-enchants words by also reinventing them. »
In the context, Camille Aumont Carnel’s work on language and sexuality was timely.
“The words of the Qit was not so much to start with a shocking work as to start with someone who has this adequacy of action and words: Camille, with her account I don’t care about the clit — just in the name of the account, we see that it distracts the mind from the expression “I don’t give a damn” to feminize it and take it back to women’s account. I find that – just in this gesture, of twisting the tongue and turning it on itself to make it say something else by inventing an expression – that is exactly the point of this collection. So, I couldn’t find a better candidate to best express this intention which was that of this collection at the start. »
Words missing from the language
The works published in the Saying is Acting collection are signed. That is to say, they translate the thoughts of one or more authors, and not those of Le Robert editions. We are already planning titles on ecology and politics.
Beyond the traditional mission of RobertBérengère Baucher asked young people if there were words “that were missing from the language”, words that would be in some way ahead of the usage that dictionaries traditionally recognize.
“The doctrine of Robertwhich I totally agree with, is that it is custom that is law, continues Mme Baucher. We are not here to prescribe good use. We are not here to be a kind of conservatory of a language. We are rather an observatory of the way people speak and express themselves. Whatever the context, whatever the social classes, whatever the language register. »
Before the words proposed by Camille Aumont Carnel enter the dictionary, there is a long way to go.
In the writing of his Q words, the author was also accompanied by the sociolinguist Noémie Marignier, who wrote her own texts. “Gender and sexualities are burning issues and language has a crucial role in the way they are experienced and how they exist in society,” notes the latter. The way we talk about it is never neutral and contributes to shaping our sexual imaginations, to establishing and reinforcing certain discriminations (by humiliating, stigmatizing, prioritizing certain bodies or certain practices); but it is also a way of questioning this normative and oppressive vision of sexuality. »