Why the big fuss about the 100 eminent Frenchwomen, including Catherine Deneuve, who have criticised the #Metoo movement as a puritan backlash?
Their viewpoint, expressed in a letter to Le Monde, is little different to the one expressed by their president in November, when Emmanuel Macron spoke out against sexual violence and harassment but warned against a culture of ‘denunciation’ where ‘each relationship between men and women is suspicious.’
In reminding France that they are ‘not a puritan society,’ Mr. Macron was tacitly drawing comparisons with the Anglo-Saxon world, long seen by the French (and other Latin countries) as prudish in sexual relations.
Macron was subsequently criticised by some French feminists, such as Caroline De Haas, who tweeted that the president ‘hasn’t understood what is going on in the country.’ Macron’s supporters would demur, however, pointing to a raft of measures that his government is planning to introduce to eradicate the scourge of sexual violence that in 2016 cost 123 Frenchwomen their lives.
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