French weekly magazines review
France continues to be gripped by debate over its tolerance of the sexual adventures of the political elite. The French papers have been eager to answer charges that they ignored or tacitly approved the predatory instincts of some male politicians.
Since ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was paraded in handcuffs on television screens for alleged rape, several more scandals have surfaced. A junior minister with a penchant for erotic foot massage on women has resigned and police are investigating allegations of a hushed-up paedophilia scandal in Morocco linked to an unidentified former minister.
Weekly Le Canard Enchaîné makes spicy revelations about how the Elysée handled the sexual assault allegations facing junior minister Georges Tron.
Le Canard explains that the outbreak of the scandal hit the president’s office like thunder, sparking a flurry of damage-control phone calls between the Elysée and the prime minister’s office. According to the paper, strategists at the Elysée had been banking on a facelift for president Nicholas Sarkozy, after the humiliating exit from the 2012 elections of the Socialist presidential front runner Dominique Straus-Kahn.
Le Canard Enchaîné runs remarks allegedly uttered by President Nicolas Sarkozy saying he would have preferred to learn about George Tron massaging the feet of his arch rival Dominique de Villepin than those of women. The paper claims that the president has ordered tighter screening of people vying for ministerial portfolios, following the outbreak of the Tron affair. In its typical style, it jokes that Tron qualifies under the new rules to become “junior minister in charge of human foot affair".
In its cover story , L’Express wonders why politicians are so crazy about sex?
The "post-DSK" malaise has struck at the heart of France's image as a haven for flirtatious gallantry. The magazine investigates the pathology and found out that the virus is known as sexus politicus. It’s got strains of “Don Juanism, machismo, womanising, heavy-handed chat-up techniques and abuse of power".
L’Express also found out that, while France appears to be the epicentre, the disease has also ravaged careers even in puritan "Anglo-Saxon" countries.
The right-wing magazine picked out five scandals caused by abuse of authority: the sentencing of ex-Israeli president Moshe Katsav to seven years in prison for rape, the Monica Lewinski affair that soiled Bill Clinton’s presidency, the "bunga bunga" sex parties of Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi, the extra-marital life of former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the rape case which haunts the career of South Africa’s polygamous leader Jacob Zuma.
L'Express says the macho attitude of male figures is a tradition inherited from absolute power.
That opinion is culled from a long interview granted to the journal by renowned historian Dmitri Casali who specialises in the Napoleonic era. Casali speaks of modern political history now being divided into two periods: using Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s initials: "The pre-DSK, and the dawning post-DSK" era .
Another right-wing magazine Le Point, samples the views of German philosopher Peter Sloterdijh on sex and the French state of mind. He tells the weekly that “subconscious monarchical minds sacralising royal sperms” persist in France, adding that the much-touted American notion about the equality of all before the law is a farce.
Le Nouvel Observateur agrees that France is a country of machos. The left-leaning weekly, runs a 12-page dossier to prove its point, stating that the blokes in power are behaving like cavemen. The weekly says the macho culture has proven to be subtle mechanism for self-censorship by the few women who have managed to join the political elite.
A recent government study quoted by the magazine says women make up just 30 per cent of the cabinet, 18 per cent of parliament and 21 per cent of the Senate. That’s a long way from the 40 per cent quota set by a parity law passed in 2007.
Up to 75,000 women are raped in France every year, according to Le Nouvel Observateur which points out that only 10 per cent of them take their cases to the courts.
While campaigners have welcomed the opportunity to draw back the veil over unreported crimes against women, Le Nouvel Observateur warns that the constant discussion of the topic in the media has stirred deep-seated traumas in many victims.
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Weekly Le Canard Enchaîné makes spicy revelations about how the Elysée handled the sexual assault allegations facing junior minister Georges Tron.
Le Canard explains that the outbreak of the scandal hit the president’s office like thunder, sparking a flurry of damage-control phone calls between the Elysée and the prime minister’s office. According to the paper, strategists at the Elysée had been banking on a facelift for president Nicholas Sarkozy, after the humiliating exit from the 2012 elections of the Socialist presidential front runner Dominique Straus-Kahn.
Le Canard Enchaîné runs remarks allegedly uttered by President Nicolas Sarkozy saying he would have preferred to learn about George Tron massaging the feet of his arch rival Dominique de Villepin than those of women. The paper claims that the president has ordered tighter screening of people vying for ministerial portfolios, following the outbreak of the Tron affair. In its typical style, it jokes that Tron qualifies under the new rules to become “junior minister in charge of human foot affair".
In its cover story , L’Express wonders why politicians are so crazy about sex?
The "post-DSK" malaise has struck at the heart of France's image as a haven for flirtatious gallantry. The magazine investigates the pathology and found out that the virus is known as sexus politicus. It’s got strains of “Don Juanism, machismo, womanising, heavy-handed chat-up techniques and abuse of power".
L’Express also found out that, while France appears to be the epicentre, the disease has also ravaged careers even in puritan "Anglo-Saxon" countries.
The right-wing magazine picked out five scandals caused by abuse of authority: the sentencing of ex-Israeli president Moshe Katsav to seven years in prison for rape, the Monica Lewinski affair that soiled Bill Clinton’s presidency, the "bunga bunga" sex parties of Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi, the extra-marital life of former California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the rape case which haunts the career of South Africa’s polygamous leader Jacob Zuma.
L'Express says the macho attitude of male figures is a tradition inherited from absolute power.
That opinion is culled from a long interview granted to the journal by renowned historian Dmitri Casali who specialises in the Napoleonic era. Casali speaks of modern political history now being divided into two periods: using Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s initials: "The pre-DSK, and the dawning post-DSK" era .
Another right-wing magazine Le Point, samples the views of German philosopher Peter Sloterdijh on sex and the French state of mind. He tells the weekly that “subconscious monarchical minds sacralising royal sperms” persist in France, adding that the much-touted American notion about the equality of all before the law is a farce.
Le Nouvel Observateur agrees that France is a country of machos. The left-leaning weekly, runs a 12-page dossier to prove its point, stating that the blokes in power are behaving like cavemen. The weekly says the macho culture has proven to be subtle mechanism for self-censorship by the few women who have managed to join the political elite.
A recent government study quoted by the magazine says women make up just 30 per cent of the cabinet, 18 per cent of parliament and 21 per cent of the Senate. That’s a long way from the 40 per cent quota set by a parity law passed in 2007.
Up to 75,000 women are raped in France every year, according to Le Nouvel Observateur which points out that only 10 per cent of them take their cases to the courts.
While campaigners have welcomed the opportunity to draw back the veil over unreported crimes against women, Le Nouvel Observateur warns that the constant discussion of the topic in the media has stirred deep-seated traumas in many victims.
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