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Precarity and the Politics of Feminist Kinship: Trans-inclusive Feminism and the Collages Féminicides Movement

This essay explores the evolution and significance of the Collages féminicides movement, a feminist initiative in France that began in 2019 as a direct response to the femicidal erasure of women. The movement was launched by former Femen member and gender-critical feminist Marguerite Stern, who glued the first collage in Marseille in February 2019. Since then, thousands of colleur.euse.s have participated in a nationwide and international campaign to confront femicide and its societal silencing by transforming France’s urban landscapes into a canvas for collective feminist activism. Initially focused on denouncing gender-based violence and femicide, the collages gradually began to incorporate trans-affirming discourses. I argue that this shift not only exposed internal tensions within the Collages féminicides movement and within feminism but also brought to light the sometimes precarious nature of solidarity within feminist activism as the movement grappled with transphobia and the challenges of expanding its feminist framework. While many branches of the movement embraced a more inclusive approach, some members resisted, adhering to biological essentialist views of feminism and femicide. The article examines the solidarities—both positive and negative—that emerged during these formative months, as the movement navigated the complexities of feminist activism.