even when men are trying to be supportive of liberal causes, women are othered

[UnDeuxTroisCatsSank]

This sentimental meme is all over my FB feed today. Could be worse, I suppose. Could have Britain First memes. But still. Am I the only one who is struck by - yet again -
To be male is normal, the male gaze is normal and women are STILL objectified in a liberal thought piece like this?

"France embodies everything religious zealots everywhere hate: enjoyment of life here on earth in a myriad little ways: a fragrant cup of coffee and buttery croissant in the morning, beautiful women in short dresses smiling freely on the street, the smell of warm bread, a bottle of wine shared with friends, a dab of perfume, children paying in the Luxembourg Gardens, the right not to believe in any god, not to worry about calories, to flirt and smoke and enjoy sex outside of marriage, to take vacations, to read any book you want, to go to school for free, to play, to laugh, to argue, to make fun of prelates and politicians alike, to leave worrying about the afterlife to the dead."

I think in this context, it's fair enough. There are plenty of societies where beautiful women absolutely cannot be seen in short dresses , smiling freely on the street.

You are assuming this is solely for the male gaze as opposed to it being the right of women to wear what they want.

Othered it should say in the title.

Yes, it's annoying - it's written by men for men - the addition of 'handsome men in jeans and tight t.shirts' would help.

Right. Something like 'men and women can dress how they wish, without religious interference.'

Ooh, spot on. Nail on head. In the light of the Paris horror, A male friend of mine posted this video on FB asking us all to please share. It's Charlie Chaplin giving a rousing speech in "The Dictator". I watched it, and I wanted to ignore my hackles rising because of the sentiments, but by the squillionth "Men!" I wanted to growl.

Maybe it is just me. I felt like I was going to get flamed for saying it didn't speak to me, because, different era, blah blah...but FGS surely there's a way of expressing those sentiments without requiring women to please ignore how completely irrelevant the speaker considers you all, because that's not the point...

It may well be me being sensitive after some of the recent threads.

But men suffer very little, if any, religious control on how they dress. The morality police in Saudi and Iran are policing women, not men.

Oh wait, not the same video

the first video had edited in other clips. Sorry.

Look, Lass I get vthat there are bugs goer I sues to debate regarding terrorism right now. But ugly women get to wear the clothes they want in France, not just beautiful ones. By making it about beautiful women, it is about the way men perceive women. So the fact that all women get to choose hat they wear is irrelevant ( not mentioned) but thank fuck the beautiful ones get to wear short skirts so men can get their buzz from that.

Yes there are far bigger issues to worry about but feel free to take offence at one word.

That's told you, Undeuxtroiscatssank.
Now take your petty concerns and kindly consult the approved feminist priority list set up in the feminist lounge to ensure you are addressing the correct list order, from worthiest to least.

It's the whole, "you may have your important issue, served with a little side of sexism. What do you mean, please take back the sexism! I'm afraid you must take it as it comes!"

Yes, let's tackle sexism only when everything else has been tackled. There are always more important issues. And women bringing up sexism in the context of terrorism are being silly. We should only try to sort out the sexist world once everything else is fine because it is right at the bottom of the list of important issues.

Right.

I agree with you, OP, and disagree with Lass. It's the use of the word beautiful that grates, places it beyond freedom of dress and more about freedom of male gaze.

And Lass doesn't self-define as a feminist, AFAIK.

Totally agree with that. It's no longer about women's freedom it's all about men's desire.

The "right" not to worry about calories is a weird one. I'd've thought the concept of worrying about calories was far more embedded in the EU and US than any country this paragraph is targeting!

Wait ... is "The Dicatator" not that movie where Chaplin plays Hitler? And is he not giving that speech in his role?

I am confused.

I wholly agree that the male gaze is annoying and needs to go away. (Women are mentioned as commodity in the German national hymn, and I am not sure they cut that. They DID cut the reference to the old borders from the hymn as sung, but not the reference to "brothers" and "fatherland".)

It may not seem much as isolated thing, but it is like having ill-fitting shoes - you can walk in them for a while, but then you will get blisters, and a while after that, there are open wounds on your feet.

I think some of the points are weird: 'to go to school for free'

Seems like it has been written a bit off the cuff without much reflection and it's thanks to FB it is getting exposure.

But it is pretty crap.

I snorted at the "beautiful women in short skirts", but mainly for the irony: whenever there's a street harassment fred, France is noted as a prolific venue. Heck, I only just dabble in the FWR section, do I really get to be the first to mention that? >preens<

But back to the main meme: yes, written by men, for men. Grr!

Yeah, that was a bit weird. Is it badly translated from the French, I wonder, with the meaning actually being to go to school freely?

Pfff at the tourist blurb.

Preemptive
You are quite right. France is notorious for street harrassment as part of normal life. Although not as bad as Rome where I was a few weeks ago and was shocked by the amount of unwanted attention I got. When I posted on FB about random Roman blokes talking to me, two French friends wrote things along the lines of: "Ah well, better to get the attention than be ignored"
WTAF?

I agree with you too UnDeux (and not just because Buffy does. )

I think it is quite a cliché too.
Children playing in the Luxembourg Gardens? Well, yes, but that's not most people's reality.