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Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Janice Turner - French 'public intellectuals'

43 replies

ErrolTheDragon · 11/02/2021 08:35

The last section of Turner's column today may be of interest - she comments on the like of Foucault, now cited in support of 'biological sex is a construct', was one of the people behind removing the age of consent in France in the 70s.

Quell surprise.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/all-i-want-in-lockdown-is-perfect-eggs-on-toast-6kgj8tvwn?shareToken=b3bfe04ebd7bfbfac48e9e256a5e3eda

OP posts:
nauticant · 11/02/2021 14:55

Which shows the PIE campaign wasn't simply a quirk of history where a very unusual group sought to do something completely unprecedented, but there will always be people who push for these kinds of changes and their success or otherwise is determined by how robust society is.

Melroses · 11/02/2021 14:45

"It now seems almost unbelievable to recall the noisy campaign to legalise sex with children from 13 upwards that was supported by feminists and philosophers alike. "

I this around the same time of the PIE campaigns in the UK?

MaudTheInvincible · 11/02/2021 13:59

[quote ErrolTheDragon]Thanks, I don't often read Times2 (perhaps I should, I wrongly assumed it was fluff!).

Here's the link

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/richard-berry-scandal-the-shaming-of-pariss-chattering-classes-mh8j6bn7n?shareToken=4226cf6cb7e621e6802b73b0ddef6730[/quote]

Jesus Christ! That's horrifying Sad

andyoldlabour · 11/02/2021 11:50

Doesn't surprise me that Foucault and other so called "post-modernists" were pro removing age of consent and are also wanting to remove biological sex and other things possibly. This definitely has a connection to modern day ideas based on gender and the online rise of MAP's.
They wish to live in a world of perverted fantasy, where biology, logic and safeguarding are removed.

OhGodWhatTheHellNow · 11/02/2021 11:39

The comments under that article are unintentionally revealing - are people really more concerned about egg poaching methodology and lobster welfare than the issues raised around child protection?

The quality of the egg was not at issue.

YetAnotherSpartacus · 11/02/2021 10:07

I think it's come up on this board before but it is worth noting that Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre also signed the relevant letters in the French press. I don't know why all of the French intellectuals at the time were taken with this but it wasn't just Foucault & Derrida

It was the zeitgeist of the times. Feminism was in its infancy and few had really considered the power dynamic between men and women. Women were 'sexually liberated' for the first time (meaning the 'zipless fuck', but also the orgasm) and quite a few bought into this (including Greer) - again without (I think) quite considering the impact of patriarchy and male power/privilege. Many of the liberation movements were led by young people under 20 and the fledgling youth movement also demanded an end to laws that prevented them from doing a number of things, including voting (in some places), saying 'no' to being conscripted, and drinking (in some places). I don't think that many of the people who argued for lowering of ages of consent (which was 21 for what were then referred to as homosexual males) would have actively advocated for paedophilic relationships (although some obviously clearly did have this agenda).

zanahoria · 11/02/2021 09:57

It's a maturity thing isn't it? Where maturity doesn't mean age but experience/world wisdom.

French Intellectuals live a grand old age but never mature

zanahoria · 11/02/2021 09:55

Nor did I know that it was abolished in the late 1970s after a campaign by post-modern philosophers, including Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida, in French newspapers

is this correct? I know the letters exist but did they change the law? I thought there had never been one

Winesalot · 11/02/2021 09:50

Now Foucault’s work is deployed to argue that biological sex is likewise not real but a social construct and that women who disagree are — like the French feminists and family therapists who opposed 1970s child-adult sex — bigots and prudes.

It is refreshing to see this get air. I have not read any of the books, but once I knew that Foucault was heavily involved in lowering the boundaries of children and those not able to go consent and influenced French law, I have been suspect of anything that people attribute to Foucault. As in, I always look for who ultimately benefits.

I am shocked though that these horrendous changes have not yet been amended in French law in all this time.

PopperUppleton · 11/02/2021 09:48

Chesterton and his fence

MichelleofzeResistance · 11/02/2021 09:46

It's a maturity thing isn't it? Where maturity doesn't mean age but experience/world wisdom.

To begin with it all seems fresh and new and generous and oh so progressive and it feels lovely. It's exciting to be that new generation that goes into the future where they know more and see differently and everything's all lovely and equalite and liberte and fraternite and it's like dancing with the hippies in central park.

It's only when you start to notice and think about and understand what's going on inside it, that you start to see and have to admit to yourself that there are many who will take advantage of less boundaries and are not thinking about lovely values at all but how to use other people's naivety to hurt and do harm and indulge themselves at other people's expense.

And that your parents and previous generations weren't joyless, prejudices and stupid old gits stuck in old fogeyism. They just had a fuckton more life experience than you and understood why boundaries mattered and what they prevented.

Winesalot · 11/02/2021 09:44

That Richard Berry article was such grim reading. The pain and confusion those children must have felt.

AnotherLass · 11/02/2021 09:32

I think it's come up on this board before but it is worth noting that Simone de Beauvoir and Jean Paul Sartre also signed the relevant letters in the French press. I don't know why all of the French intellectuals at the time were taken with this but it wasn't just Foucault & Derrida.

GCAcademic · 11/02/2021 09:21

Even the Guardian had something on this yesterday. I was astonished (not at the state of French intellectuals, but at the Guardian reporting it):

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/10/france-begins-to-confront-decades-of-neglect-of-incest-cases

WarOnWomen · 11/02/2021 09:14

Yes, I read about Foucault and his cronies, about queer theory and about their push for dismantling age of consent. It all ties up really because if if you want to destroy biological sex and just talk about gender and that anything goes in terms of identity and sexuality, then of course sex with minors is the next logical step.

It's very similar to how certain factions of transgender allies are pushing for medicalisation of children re:puberty blockers and cross sex hormones. Children and childhood are the final frontiers to be destroyed.

ErrolTheDragon · 11/02/2021 09:10

Bloody hell.Sad

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ErrolTheDragon · 11/02/2021 09:01

Thanks, I don't often read Times2 (perhaps I should, I wrongly assumed it was fluff!).

Here's the link

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/richard-berry-scandal-the-shaming-of-pariss-chattering-classes-mh8j6bn7n?shareToken=4226cf6cb7e621e6802b73b0ddef6730

OP posts:
Igneococcus · 11/02/2021 08:48

There was an article in yesterday's Times about this in the Times 2 section. I'm not on a device at the moment that let's me do share tokens.

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