The misery of being a French man

Times Online ^ | 3/7/03 | Charles Bremner

[winner3000]

The misery of being a French man By Charles Bremner

FOUR decades of feminism have turned middle-class French men into miserable creatures who are intimidated by women and losing their way in an increasingly matriarchal society, a study says. Men aged 20 to 45 believe that they have paid a heavy price for the social, legal and professional empowerment of women since the onset of the Pill and women’s liberation in the 1960s, according to the analysis for Elle, an upmarket women’s magazine.

“Men of all generations are suffering,” it said. “They feel diminished, devalued in a society where things feminine are perceived as positive and all-powerful values.”

Men under 35 in particular felt that they were being treated as sexual objects by predatory young women.

Elle was surprised by the sense of victimisation and the anger of men towards women — especially among the younger generation — revealed by the Centre de Communication Avancée study. “They think women have gone too far, too quickly, without setting any limit to their demands or ever questioning themselves,” Elle said.

Modern men see women as “castrating, vengeful, power-hungry and obsessed by men’s sexual performance”.

The study, based on interviews with four 12-man focus groups of urban professionals, was commissioned to mark International Women’s Day tomorrow. The findings echoed the refrain of male grievance familiar over the past decade in France and across the Westernised world.

While sounding a concerned tone for men, Elle noted that French women were still paid 30 per cent less than men, still performed

80 per cent of household chores and remained the main victims of domestic violence. It might have added that France still has fewer women in senior executive roles or high positions in the professions or politics than most EU states.

Men, the survey said, were driven to distraction by the conflicting demands of modern women. They were paradoxically being encouraged to adopt feminine traits while women still expected them to be virile. “Masculinity is in crisis . . . there is no longer a model for building a masculine identity. Man no longer exists,” the magazine said.

“Being a male today is a nightmare. The male identity feels battered by the paradoxical demands of women . . . and a society that is going their way, from law, morality to advertising and techiques of reproduction . . . One gets the impression that a new war of the sexes is emerging, with the former dominated becoming the dominatrixes”.

Men blamed advertising and the media for treating them as useless or sexual objects. They had suffered various phases of “destabilisation”. In the Sixties and Seventies they had experienced the moral revolution and the doctrine of female equality.

In the Eighties they had faced “implosion” through an explosion of models, from Golden Boys to gays and the Rambo type. In the Nineties they had been stressed by unemployment, aids, globalisation and the failure of the “masculine” technocratic model of society that had prevailed in France.

Younger men were said to be more unhappy than their elders. The 25-35 group felt that women “consume men and abuse them sexually”. The saddest group seemed to be those aged 20-25, who the magazine defined as “subjugated and feminised”.

“It is not rare that they cultivate a gay image in which they find a model for acceding to femininity. Behind the abandonment of their virility there lies another odd ideal: that of ‘homosexual fusion’ with the woman, a loss of differentiation between sexes.”

[winner3000]

LOL. This explains things :)

Things are going that way in the US. We can see what the end result is. We'd better fight the man-haters. I don't think real women want their men to be such wimps who have no principles and are confused about what's right and what's wrong (like the nation of France is demonstrating right now).

[TADSLOS]

Men under 35 in particular felt that they were being treated as sexual objects by predatory young women

I'd say they're making progress. Their forefathers were nothing more than surrender objects by young predatory germans.

[KellyAdmirer]

This is highly amusing under current circumstances, if you know who ultimately owns Elle.

[SAMWolf]

Brave Jacques Chirac ran away,
Bravely ran away, away.
When danger reared its ugly head,
he bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Jacques Chirac turned about
And gallantly, he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet,
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Jacques Chirac.

[jjm2111]

"with the former dominated becoming the dominatrixes”...The saddest group seemed to be those aged 20-25, who the magazine defined as “subjugated and feminised”.

What ninnies.

[xJones]

Not to worry, when the current 10% of Muslims in France increases, Shar'ia law will take care of all that.

[martin_fierro]

Le Boo. Le Hoo.

[pyx]

Western Civilization is becoming a CLITOCRACY !

[ArGee]

Men under 35 in particular felt that they were being treated as sexual objects by predatory young women.

Methinks France Tourism could use this as an advertising campaign and triple their spring break take.

Maybe quadruple it.

Shalom.

[taxed2death]

Some times for a laugh, I listen to the Public Broadcasting Stations out of New York.

I get quite an ejumacation from them.

To listen to the "men" who both host and call in to those programs, I'd have to believe we're not too far off from France.

Some one needs to tell them to screw in their testicles before they leave the house in the morning for their anti-American marches.

[Mamzelle]

You beat me to it...the Islamic takeover of France will put les femmes in the burquas...

[metalboy]

[jjm2111]

Some one needs to tell them to screw in their testicles before they leave the house in the morning for their anti-American marches.

LOL! Some "men" are so effeminite in NYC (and not queer neither). They're straight, but just ridiculously effeminite. Highlights in their hair, way too much attention to fashion, no spine.

BTW, I hate the term "males". (not that you used it) It sounds so clinical. I prefer "men" or "gentlemen" as appropriate.

[SENTINEL]

"“Masculinity is in crisis..."

Masculinity has always been in crisis among the French, and even God knows it.

He sent George Washington to lead us through battle, William Wallace to embolden the Scottish, and Joan of Arc to "masculate" the French, and she was even too much for them to handle.

[mr.pink]

Feminization of French men?.....



....I'll believe it when I see it. ;o)

[SamAdams76]

Men under 35 in particular felt that they were being treated as sexual objects by predatory young women.

Where do I sign up?

[anymouse]

No wonder Lance Armstrong keeps whiping Frenchie's butt in the Tour de France. In a land without b@lls, the one- (ahem, 'eyed') man is king. :)

[sheik yerbouty]

They think it makes them look sennnnnnnnnnnnnnsativvvvvvvvvvvvvvve!

[Henrietta]

God, what a bunch of pansies! Makes me glad I married a real man, an American man!

Having travelled extensively, I can say that there is no finer creature on the earth than an American man. They are the best mannered, best dressed, best smelling, best kempt men I've ever seen. We American ladies have it pretty good here!

[b4its2late]

The Mid East Mystery

Everyone seems to be wondering why Muslim terrorists are so quick to commit suicide.

Lets see now...

No beer, No booze, No bars, No television, No cheerleaders, No baseball, No football, No basketball, No hockey, and No tailgate parties No pork BBQ, No hot-dogs, No burgers, No lobster, No shellfish, or even frozen fish sticks.

Rags For clothes, towels for hats. Constant wailing from the guy next door because he is sick and there are no doctors. 24 hour wailing from a guy in the tower.

You can't shave. Your wife can't shave. You can't shower to wash off the smell of donkey cooked over burning camel dung.

The women have to wear baggy dresses, and veils at all times. Your bride is picked by someone else. She smells just like your donkey, but your donkey has a better disposition.

Then they tell you it all gets better when you die.

NO MYSTERY HERE