Catherine Millet
Illustration — Catherine Millet at home Catherine Millet (lang; born 1 April 1948) is a French writer, art critic, curator, and founder and editor of the magazine Art Press, which focuses on modern art and contemporary art.
Catherine Millet

Marc Bervillé · Don reçu de l'auteur pour Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Born
- 1948 · Bois-Colombes.
- Nationality
- France
- Occupation
- journalist · curator · writer · art critic · art historian · editing staff
- Known for
- The Sexual Life of Catherine M. · L'art contemporain : Histoire et géographie
- Honours
- Sade Prize · Price Prince Maurice of the romance novel · Le Vaudeville prize · François Morellet Prize · Officer of Arts and Letters
- Languages
- French
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Catherine Millet at home Catherine Millet (lang; born 1 April 1948) is a French writer, art critic, curator, and founder and editor of the magazine Art Press, which focuses on modern art and contemporary art.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q292463 · wikipedia · Catherine Millet
In this article
Biography
Biography
The recorded working language is French. Employment is recorded with Art Press and Les Lettres françaises. Positions recorded include exhibition curator. Works named in the authority record are The Sexual Life of Catherine M. and L'art contemporain: Histoire et géographie. Distinctions recorded are Sade Prize, Price "Prince Maurice" of the romance novel, Le Vaudeville prize and François Morellet Prize.
Born in Bois-Colombes, France, she is best known as the author of the 2002 memoir The Sexual Life of Catherine M.; the book details her sexual history, from childhood masturbation to an adult fascination with group sex. The book was reviewed by Edmund White as "the most explicit book about sex ever written by a woman". In 2008 she published a sequel of sorts called Jour de Souffrance, translated to English in 2009 as Jealousy: The Other Life of Catherine M. She is married to the poet and novelist Jacques Henric. In April 2016, Catherine Millet received the Prix François Morellet from Régine Catin, Laurent Hamon and Philippe Méaille. Awarded during the National Days of Book and Wine (Saumur), in partnership with the Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art; it rewards a personality for their commitment and their writings in favor of contemporary art.
Views on rape and male chauvinism
Views on rape and male chauvinism
In December 2017, during an interview on the French radio France Culture she claimed "I really regret not having been raped, because I could show that you can recover from it". In January 2018 Millet co-authored a public letter to Le Monde newspaper criticising the #MeToo movement, defending men’s “freedom to bother women,” which they said was “indispensable to sexual freedom.” The letter was signed by over a hundred French women, including actress Catherine Deneuve, and generated considerable controversy.
Decorations
Decorations
• Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters (2016)
Identity
Identity
Catherine Millet is recorded as journalist, curator, writer, art critic and art historian.

Catherine Millet in event "Fronteiras do Pensamento", São Paulo, 2018
Fronteiras do Pensamento
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1948
Catherine Millet born at Bois-Colombes.
Recognition and collections
Where the work is held
Recognition and collections
Catherine Millet received Sade Prize, Price "Prince Maurice" of the romance novel, Le Vaudeville prize, François Morellet Prize and Officer of Arts and Letters.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q292463: Catherine Millet
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Catherine Millet”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
- Catherine Millet y la nueva literatura erótica francesa, Philologia Hispalensis, 2002
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2002
Literature
Scholarly footprint
A count of publications is evidence of attention, not of standing, and is given here only as a measure.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Catherine Millet, une libertine envers et contre toutes. Le Monde. 21 mai 2021.
- 2.En 2009, L'Art contemporain en France et L'Art contemporain : histoire et géographie paraissent en langue persane.
- 3.Catherine Millet, dans le vif du début. Libération (journal) Libération auteur1=Philippe Lançon. 2022 url.
- 4.Prix François Morellet. art press. . 15 avril 2016 lire en.
- 5.Arrêté du 10 février 2016 portant nomination et promotion dans l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
- 6.Sandra Lorenzo. Brigitte Lahaie et Catherine Millet sur le viol : ce que la science leur répond. Huffington Post. 11/01/2018.
- 7.Catherine Millet : "J'ai de la compassion pour les frotteurs du métro !". tmc. 2018-01-11 lire en.
- 8.Invitée - Catherine Millet : "Les féministes exagèrent le harcèlement sexuel". tmc. 2018-01-11 lire en.
- 9.Une loi sur les violences sexuelles et le harcèlement de rue annoncée pour 2018. Le Monde.fr. 2017-10-15. 1950-6244 lire en.
- 10.Tribuna ! La mujer no es solo un cuerpo. El País. 2018-02-14. 1134-6582 lire en.
- 11.Catherine Millet s'explique sur son "regret de ne pas avoir été violée". Le Point. 2018-02-15 lire en.
- 12.Catherine Millet s'explique sur son "regret de ne pas avoir été violée" (et va encore plus loin). L'Obs. . 15/2/2018 lire en.
- 13.Le père d’Anne-Lorraine Schmitt répond à Catherine Millet. Valeurs actuelles. . 27/2/2018 lire en.
- 14.Présomption d’innocence. Claude Lévêque. Artpress. 23 février 2021.
- 15.Yann Bouchez et Emmanuelle Lequeux. Le plasticien Claude Lévêque accusé de viols sur mineurs. LeMonde.fr. 10 janvier 2021.
- 16.Accusé de violences sexuelles : une tribune de soutien à Gérard Depardieu qui crée le malaise. L'Indépendant. 2023-12-26 consulté.
- 17.Information publiée par Le Magazine littéraire.
- 18.Le prix de la Coupole à Catherine Millet. nouvelobs.com. 22/05/2014.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 6
- Françoise Wilder, Un provocant abandon, Desclée de Brouwer, 2004.
- Jacques Henric
- Légendes de Catherine M., Denoël, 2001.
- Catherine "M", l'album, éd. L'Instantanée, 2004.
- Béatrice Nodé-Langlois, « "Jour de souffrance" de Catherine Millet », La Critique parisienne, , .
- Liza Steiner, Sade aujourd'hui. Anatomie de la pornocratie, préface de Jean-Christophe Abramovici, Paris, Classiques Garnier, 2019
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Catherine Millet y la nueva literatura erótica francesa, Philologia Hispalensis, 2002Crossref registry
Verifiedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q292463: Catherine MilletWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
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