French women do everything modern women do, but, astonishingly, many still defer to men, allowing themselves to be treated like inferiors, children and servants. Even though most French women work, are financially independent and sexually responsible, they continue to tolerate men’s antiquated, old-fashioned, out-dated, passé paternalism and machismo.
French women are no shrinking violets. Very few think they’re inferior to men, they’re mostly strong, ambitious, free-thinking, out-spoken, go-getting women of action. French women stand up for themselves and are not afraid to speak out––except to the men in their life.
Many French women will also walk all over their female friends to get and keep a man, obviously not considering female friendship worth a damn and thus illustrating the fact that they don’t think much of their gender. Giving men this much power weakens women and the entire culture.
Shocking, really, when you think that French feminism had it’s origins in the Revolution of 1789 and one of the most famous works about feminism, The Second Sex was written by Simone de Beauvoir. Not that there aren’t feminists in France today, but, as late as 1974, France actually had a Minister of the Feminine Condition. Good grief.
The reason most French women give for their behavior is that they are deathly afraid of being thought of as “aggressive”, as they consider feminists and American women to be. As if being groped, attacked and insulted makes you feel soft and feminine. They prefer to appear submissive in public and to wield their power behind men’s back. This involves much subterfuge, artifice, manipulation and quite a bit of deceit. Nasty, underhanded stuff.
This behind-the-scenes “power” also creates men who believe they can get away with anything, like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whose innocence we will presume until he’s proven guilty. As long as women allow men to behave abusively, men will continue to abuse them. French women say they believe in equal pay for equal work and they complain bitterly to other women when men treat them like children and servants, but many are just not prepared to stand up for their rights for fear of being thought “aggressive”, “crazy” and “feministe”, a dirty word in France.
Tolerating male dominance is admitting that you’re inferior, that it’s okay to pay you less, treat you disrespectfully, order you around and expect you to be a servant, no matter how cleverly you dodge around behind his back. This decades out-of-date behavior is feminine machismo, female sexism and it does France no favours.
French men will tell you that they don’t dominate women, that French women are strong and free to do what they like and they have plenty of power. I recently heard a young male French film director defending the wimpiness of his heroine by saying that she really had plenty of power at home. So much for French gallantry.
Standing up for your rights as a human being is not aggressive, it’s essential.
Many French women will also walk all over their female friends to get and keep a man, obviously not considering female friendship worth a damn and thus illustrating the fact that they don’t think much of their gender. Giving men this much power weakens women and the entire culture.
Shocking, really, when you think that French feminism had it’s origins in the Revolution of 1789 and one of the most famous works about feminism, The Second Sex was written by Simone de Beauvoir. Not that there aren’t feminists in France today, but, as late as 1974, France actually had a Minister of the Feminine Condition. Good grief.
The reason most French women give for their behavior is that they are deathly afraid of being thought of as “aggressive”, as they consider feminists and American women to be. As if being groped, attacked and insulted makes you feel soft and feminine. They prefer to appear submissive in public and to wield their power behind men’s back. This involves much subterfuge, artifice, manipulation and quite a bit of deceit. Nasty, underhanded stuff.
This behind-the-scenes “power” also creates men who believe they can get away with anything, like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, whose innocence we will presume until he’s proven guilty. As long as women allow men to behave abusively, men will continue to abuse them. French women say they believe in equal pay for equal work and they complain bitterly to other women when men treat them like children and servants, but many are just not prepared to stand up for their rights for fear of being thought “aggressive”, “crazy” and “feministe”, a dirty word in France.
Tolerating male dominance is admitting that you’re inferior, that it’s okay to pay you less, treat you disrespectfully, order you around and expect you to be a servant, no matter how cleverly you dodge around behind his back. This decades out-of-date behavior is feminine machismo, female sexism and it does France no favours.
French men will tell you that they don’t dominate women, that French women are strong and free to do what they like and they have plenty of power. I recently heard a young male French film director defending the wimpiness of his heroine by saying that she really had plenty of power at home. So much for French gallantry.
Standing up for your rights as a human being is not aggressive, it’s essential.
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