French Women Don't Take Baths
Myrna Blyth takes on the latest craze---American women who want to be like French women:
Since Word Girl simply refuses to keep to her side of the blog, I'm going to trounce all over hers and talk about dieting and women's issues. And maybe even fashion.
First off, whenever Americans tend to think of French women, they tend to think of French women celebrities. Got news for you, folks---Catherine Deneuve stands out in a crowd in Paris, too. Your average French woman is pretty average. And given dubious hygiene, smoking like a chimney, and poor grooming habits (have you got a Monchichi in a headlock there, Madame?), your average French woman is quite a bit below the American average, to my mind. Even if the average American woman occasionally buries her head in the Blue Bell container and doesn't come up for air until she's sucking down cardboard.
Secondly, French women tend to live in France, which is distressingly rife with French men. There's a huge downside right there. With their pathetic, girlie little 35-hour work week, French men have lots of idol time to dream up spectacularly stupid political ideas and watch lots of bad French movies. Why don't they spend more time with those newly-admirable smoking Pez dispensers they call femmes? To do so would likely mean spending lots of time waiting outside the women's bathroom listening to the toilets flush. No thanks.
Finally, if French women were so great, we'd be importing them instead of Russian and Czech women. The mail order bride services are a pretty good indicator of where America's collective head is at regarding the merits of foreign babes. We figured out sometime during WWII that French women were much too high-maintenance to bother with, particularly since having those "Fritz" tattoos removed for them would cost a mint and take an awful lot of 35-hour work weeks to recoup the expense.
French women may not get fat, but they don't get American men, either. Why American women would wish to emulate the Parisian doyennes is beyond me, but then again, so is the timeless allure of starving oneself or treating retching as recreation.
Why not simply enjoy life and worry less? If the men you're dating aren't into that, go find some who are.
Just make sure they're not Frenchmen. ; )
In truth, both these books wildly over-generalize and make their much-hyped points based on the experiences and attitudes of small groups of elite women. Chic svelte Parisians, of course, not all French women are the ones who make sure they don’t get fat. And it’s not most American mothers, but a very few upper-middle-class moms whose religion of Motherhood makes them agonize over throwing the perfect toddler birthday party, complete with bouncy tent.
Now I, of course, would never generalize in the same way. That would be like my saying all French men lack courage on the battlefield. Or calling them, for example, cheese-eating surrender monkeys. No, Mireille and Judith, you Francophiles, I would never do that. Even if it might be true.
Since Word Girl simply refuses to keep to her side of the blog, I'm going to trounce all over hers and talk about dieting and women's issues. And maybe even fashion.
First off, whenever Americans tend to think of French women, they tend to think of French women celebrities. Got news for you, folks---Catherine Deneuve stands out in a crowd in Paris, too. Your average French woman is pretty average. And given dubious hygiene, smoking like a chimney, and poor grooming habits (have you got a Monchichi in a headlock there, Madame?), your average French woman is quite a bit below the American average, to my mind. Even if the average American woman occasionally buries her head in the Blue Bell container and doesn't come up for air until she's sucking down cardboard.
Secondly, French women tend to live in France, which is distressingly rife with French men. There's a huge downside right there. With their pathetic, girlie little 35-hour work week, French men have lots of idol time to dream up spectacularly stupid political ideas and watch lots of bad French movies. Why don't they spend more time with those newly-admirable smoking Pez dispensers they call femmes? To do so would likely mean spending lots of time waiting outside the women's bathroom listening to the toilets flush. No thanks.
Finally, if French women were so great, we'd be importing them instead of Russian and Czech women. The mail order bride services are a pretty good indicator of where America's collective head is at regarding the merits of foreign babes. We figured out sometime during WWII that French women were much too high-maintenance to bother with, particularly since having those "Fritz" tattoos removed for them would cost a mint and take an awful lot of 35-hour work weeks to recoup the expense.
French women may not get fat, but they don't get American men, either. Why American women would wish to emulate the Parisian doyennes is beyond me, but then again, so is the timeless allure of starving oneself or treating retching as recreation.
Why not simply enjoy life and worry less? If the men you're dating aren't into that, go find some who are.
Just make sure they're not Frenchmen. ; )
1 Comments:
Who knew you were such a fashionista(sp. again)? How do you know all this stuff? There are still only 24 hrs in a day, aren't there? I'll share a secret with you. I have the whole vowel system between both my maiden and my married name.Yup, I'm a frog:), albeit slightly removed from the pond by way of Canada. That country. I laughed so hard I cried! THAT's what a monchichi is! What a great perspective you have on the pitfalls and follies of the foolishness of us; women! you make my day.
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