Dear Santa

Volume 2, Issue 50- December 23-29, 2011 

International Tribune

Dear Santa,

Slowly but surely, I am managing through my holiday travels. Thank goodness that there are no public transportation strikes in Paris.  Nor are there any terrorist alert in New York.  My trip went smoothly with no surprise delays.  Christmas is certainly the holiday of perpetual hope. 

Santa strutting in New York City.  Photo by Lynsey Addario/ AP

I am home for Christmas this year.  It has been a long time since I spent the holiday with my family in good ole’ Queens.  The last four years have been spent in France with my in-laws.   As the song goes: “there’s no home like home for the holidays”.   Finally, I can clearly understand all discussions and have good knowledge of the rules of engagement.   Team Miranda will be spending quality time with one another: running around the entire city for last minute shopping; jockeying at the usual Filipino buffet line during our Christmas meal; everyone dodging away from the mountainous pile of dishes after the festivities; and the rest of the family evading the scene once my mom and I start to get into our gleeful mood to sing non-stop karaoke Christmas tunes.  What a special time of the year.     

Santa, the US economy is in deep trouble.  I had to pay five dollars to use a luggage cart when I landed at JFK.  Quel horreur!  Luggage carts are free in Paris – or, for that matter, for the rest of Europe. This is a bad sign.  How else can I easily sneak foie gras and cheese out of customs?   Maybe 3 years from now US airports will charge ten dollars for a single cart.  It is like paying for undeserving road tolls in the tri-state area to cross from one bridge or tunnel after the other.  Speaking about roads, please be careful when you land your sleigh on the ground.  There are so many ‘dangerous’ pot holes in the five boroughs.  In Paris, I watch out for dog poop in the street.  In New York, the pot holes on the road can kill you.  I really wish that the economic recession in America would be over soon.

It is presidential election frenzy in France and in America.  The year 2012 will be a big year for both nations.  It is predicted that France will turn left and America will go perilously right.  Either way, there will be major changes not necessarily, I fear, for the better.   I am just glad that France already rid itself of a perverted presidential hopeful.  However, the US still has several blithering nincompoops who want to beat rock-star Obama.   One of them cannot even remember his own domestic policies.  And the other has been charged with more than one sexual indiscretion that ultimately spelled for all intents and purposes the end of his primary campaign.   What is wrong with this picture?  Santa, I truly hope that you are checking your list twice and sort out who is naughty or nice. 

2012 will be a year of major changes- in both sides of the Atlantic.   I will do my best to keep up with both worlds.  My memo will be more interesting however the tide of events will be.  After all, life is not only about your destination but it is the experience of making you wise upon reaching the terminus of your journey.  I just want to thank you for bringing me the best gifts this year - my wonderful family and faithful friends. 

Merry Christmas!

Sincerely,

Michele 

La Prostitution Française

Volume 2, Issue 48, December 9-15, 2011

International Tribune

The latest demonstrations outside the French parliament to fight for their industry’s survival are no longer from groups against corporate greed- but from hookers.  Sex trade workers have surrounded the Assemblée Nationale.  They are angry.  They are vigilant. They are in sheer ugly mood. They are fighting not only for their very economic survival but also for the fundamental freedom of choice.  

Sex trade workers protesting outside the French Parliament. Photo by AF. 

Prostitution, as the saying goes, is the oldest profession in the world.  Next to assuming the role of being a king or a queen, studying to be a priest, or training to be a soldier, being a whore in society is a profession of its own.  Depending on what type of prostitute one aspires to be, and how far the person wants to advance in his/her ambition, there is a formal training given for this trade.  There are historical accounts of highly-trained courtesans and famous geishas.  The bible itself has several chapters that depict stories of famous prostitutes starting with the reformed sinner, Mary Magdalene, to the powerful Whore of Babylon.  Brothels and self-prostitution are probably the only professions that we can trace to women since the dawn of civilization.  Whether it is respected or not, this is an industry that has thrived for hundreds of centuries and it is now fighting for its survival in France.  

Thanks to Dominique Strauss Kahn (a.k.a. as DSK), the sex trade sector - at least here in France -has been the latest victim that has been rattled by his personal indiscretions in the past.  An old news resurfaced that the former head of the IMF and once widely regarded as a front- runner to be the next president of France was caught soliciting "ladies of the night" in Bois de Boulogne (a park in Paris famous for the business).  Apparently, he was caught in 2006 by a local cop but no fine or penalty was imposed against him.  If the police could file charges against DSK, certainly it would have never happened because of his power and pedigree. Moreover, another scandal turned up, DSK has been linked to an upper-class prostitution ring at a high-end hotel in Lille.  

The Palais Royal hosted special evenings for prostitutes and their clients during the early 19th century.  The painting is from an unknown artist and it is part of the Bibliothèque nationale de France. 

 

Prostitution in France is not illegal.  In the land known for its adherence to human rights and égalité, both the prostitute and the client cannot be prosecuted. There are simply no laws against them.  The authority can only arrest and file charges against facilitators of whorehouses and men who engage in sexual relations with a minor in this country and, for that matter, throughout Western Europe.  

Today, sex trade workers are furious for all the double standards, as they allege.  First, parliamentarians (usually of bourgeoisie class) have suddenly and perhaps conveniently found this particular subject matter to be of an immense moral issue for themselves and for their country.  Second, it is the members of the upper class who have become overly sensitive of the news that has been dug up related to the prostitution ring in the Lille hotel.  If it were not for the latest DSK conundrum that has been extricated from the recent past against one of the most hated men in France, no one would probably pay attention to this issue at all.  Not especially during a time when the entire Euro-zone particularly France is in deep economic trouble.  Clearly, the French have bigger and, therefore, more urgent problems to solve.

There is an estimate of 20,000 sex-trade workers in France.  The country's parliament has proposed legislations to fight prostitution by making sex-for-cash a crime punishable by fines and imprisonment.  Under these proposed measures, clients could be jailed for six months or fined nearly $4,000. Guy Geoffroy, an MP from the ruling UMP party who sits on the commission, said “France's political parties had reached a consensus on the issue because it was a matter of ‘republican ethics’.  "From now on prostitution maybe regarded as violence against women and that is unacceptable to everyone," Mr. Geoffroy added.  The commission stated that nine prostitutes out of 10 are victims of human trafficking, but sex workers protesting outside the National Assembly vehemently disagreed.  Some sex workers say the law will penalize them but leave pimps and organized crime networks untouched. "We're not all part of those networks," one sex worker said who wants to remain anonymous.  "Let them tackle the networks efficiently and to the end, but let go of people like me who for years have paid tax, who were recognized as prostitutes and who now have only 417 Euros in pension pay."

Mata Hari.  Photo by Getty Images.

There are many famous prostitutes in history that had certainly advanced themselves in this form of human enterprise.  Let us start with Mata Hari, the pen name of Margaretha Geertruida Zelle- a former spy, social climber, or prostitute during World War I.  Some say she is a heroine who spied against France for the Germans.  On the other hand, many claimed that she was simply a whore and rightfully deserved the guillotine (her cause of death).  In the Far East, the Middle Kingdom had Su Xiaoxiao, also known as "Little Su", a famous courtesan and poet from Qiantang city (now Hangzhou) during the Southern Qi Dynasty in 479–502.  She was of rare beauty and talent, there is even a special tomb built for Little Su with her poems.  In the Wild, Wild, West, there was the fearless ‘Calamity Jane’, born as Martha Jane Cannary Burke (May 1, 1852 – August 1, 1903), an American frontierswoman who courageously fought the native Indians alongside with Wild Bill Hickok.  Before that, Calamity Jane worked as a prostitute to fend for herself during her stay at Piedmont, Wyoming.  She had no other choice.  The A-list of ‘who is who’ in the prostitute hall of fame (or shame) goes on and on.  

Not to discount that the sex trade can never be regarded as a true tradecraft, an art form, or maybe even a fun profession.  After all, if one is proud of being a whore, how can one philosophically argue or legislate them out of his/her choice of life style?  We all have the right to choose our career path.  However, I still find it hard for any little girl or boy, for that matter, who will say that one day “when I grow-up, I want to be a whore”.  I just do not see that realistically ever happening.   Do you?   

From Svetlana to Lana

International Tribune, Volume 2, Issue 47, December 2-8, 2011 

Josef Stalin’s youngest daughter Svetlana died as an American in Wisconsin.  She was 85.   

Svetlana was born into this world with a silver spoon.   Or, at least, it was for a good portion of her life.  She was the most adorned little girl who grew up under the arms of one of the most feared men in history.  A privileged life for Svetlana was not easy.  The shadow of her dark past followed her until the day that she died. 

Svetlana also known as the "Little Sparrow" with her father.  Photo by AP.

Life certainly does not promise anyone a bed of roses no matter what family lineage one comes from.  As the only daughter and the youngest child of Josef Stalin from his second wife, Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva lived a life of loneliness, isolation, and fear caused by the "Man of Steel" himself during his long and tumultuous reign in the Kremlin.   Svetlana’s life was beleaguered with numerous personal tragedies, failed romances, and including having to succumb to a realization that perhaps leaving her original world behind could bring justice to her loss and bring some sort of normalcy into her life.   The life of the most privileged daughter of the most powerful man in the Soviet Union defected and abandoned everything she had to start anew in a small town in Wisconsin.  

The Stalin family. From left to right, Vasily Stalin, Andrei, Svetlana, Josef Stalin, Jacob Stalin. Photo by AP.

Tragedy struck the Stalin family one after another.  Svetlana lost almost every member of her family at a very young age.  The death of her mother, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, was officially ruled as a burst of appendix although other theories came out as the cause of her death.  Many say that she committed suicide and others say that she was shot in sheer cold blood by the nefarious dictator himself.   Svetlana had two brothers, Vasily and Jacob.  Her eldest and half-brother Jacob was captured by the Nazis in 1941.  He could have survived but his father traded his life for the sake of one of his war generals.  Jacob eventually died in a German concentration camp.  On the other hand, Vasily, the middle child, attempted to commit suicide after an argument with his father regarding his Jewish girlfriend.  When the bullet missed his head, Stalin was very upset- and not because of his wrongdoings but because Vasily’s inability to kill himself.  "He can't even shoot straight," said the shameful father.  Vasily lived up to the age of forty and died because of alcohol abuse.

It gets even worse.  One can imagine that having a private life as the daughter of a dictator could be a nightmare.  Svetlana’s first love was a Jewish filmmaker Alexei Kapler. Her father disapproved of the romance and Kepler was sentenced to ten years in a labor camp in Siberia. A year later, when Svetlana was 17, she fell in love with Grigori Morozov a fellow student at Moscow University. They married and had a son Joseph in 1945 but divorced two years later. She married her second husband, Yuri Zhdanov in 1949, the year she graduated from Moscow University. They had a daughter, Ekaterina in 1950 but also divorced afterwards.  

Brajesh Singh.  Photo by BBC News India.

Finally, destiny brought the fate of two lonely hearts; Svetlana met Brajesh Singh in Sochi, the biggest resort city of Russia.  Brajesh had everything to sweep a woman off her feet. He was handsome, suave, of a royal Indian lineage from Kalakanker- and above all a communist. There were many Indian Communists who studied in the Soviet Union during this era.  The two lived for a long time in Sochi even though marriage was out of the question for both.  Brajesh was still married back home and divorce was not very easy during those days.  Their relationship lasted worthy of the time to make Svetlana his common wife.  And so, the unconventional couple lived happily until Brajesh died of emphysema in October 1966.  Because of her true love and devotion to Brajesh, Svetlana traveled to India against all odds to scatter his ashes in the Ganges in accordance with his last will.  Both the Communist Party and the Indian Government made Svetlana’s trip politically impossible.  At the same time, cultural tradition intervened and played an enormous obstacle to the widow of an orthodox Hindu.  In Hindi burial ritual, the wife is expected to follow the dead husband.   Hindus sometimes burned the widow along to the decease’s next life.  Luckily, Svetlana was exempted from this tradition.

India became a nice retreat for the grieving widow- it was a good environment for someone to reflect.  The godless Svetlana started to discover religion.  Because of this, she decided to extend her time in India with Brajesh’s family in their palace at Kalakanker.  Svetlana reinvented herself and found solace in this mystical journey.  According to Svetlana, “It was impossible to exist without God in one’s heart.” Not for long, the Communist Party requested her immediate return to the Soviet Union but Svetlana just could not simply go back in the same limited existence at home.  Svetlana took a chance and changed the course of her destiny.  After India, life will never be the same for the daughter of Stalin. 

Svetlana's press conference in New York City. Time & Life Photo.

The story of the great escape could not have been more dramatic. After her time with Brajesh’s family, she was asked to stay at the Soviet embassy where Ambassador Nikolai Benediktov strongly advised her to return home. The pressure surmounted, it seems like she had no other choice but to go back.  Pretending that she was going out to finalize her travel arrangements and pack, Svetlana called a taxi and drove straight to the American Embassy.  The American Embassy was close when she arrived.  Svetlana begged the security officer in duty to let her in- that she is the daughter of the late Josef Stalin and would like to defect to the United States.  In panic, the duty officer rang up Ambassador Chester Bowles and told him that he must come to his office right away to deal with a matter that could not be discussed on the phone.  Before you know it, Svetlana was escorted by CIA officers to Switzerland, and then to the United States. 

Photo by AP

Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva defected and arrived in the United States in April 1967 at the age of forty one.  Upon her arrival, Svetlana gave a press conference denouncing her father's regime and the Soviet government.  In front of millions of viewers in New York City, according to Svetlana, “I have come here to seek the self-expression that has been denied me for so long in Russia.  I had come to doubt that communism I was taught growing up and believed there weren’t capitalists or communists, just good and bad human beings.”

Lana Peters and William Peters. Photo by Alfred Eisens / Time & Life Pictures

Svetlana wrote two books and became best sellers.  Eventually, she settled in Wisconsin.  As a patron of the arts and intellectual circle, Svetlana met William Wesley Peters, an American architect and an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright.  Svetlana and William were married in 1970 and had a daughter named Olga.  Svetlana was sworn in as a naturalized US citizen and changed her name to Lana Peters.  The marriage only lasted for 3 years.  Shortly after giving birth to Olga, the couple separated.  

Lana and Olga traveled all around the United States and for a couple of years stayed in Great Britain.  Evidently, Lana was unable to maintain a long-term commitment anywhere or with

Lana Peters in one of her rare interviews.

anyone.   It was a plight of a wondering soul trying to permanently put behind the dark shadow from her tumultuous past.  After Britain, Lana decided to return to Tbilisi in 1984 at the age of 58 to introduce her half-American daughter to her relatives.  She was also given her Soviet citizenship once again.  Their stay in Soviet Georgia was unpleasant, thanks to the feuding relatives, Lana and Olga returned to the US in 1986.  And since then, Lana vowed never to return to the Soviet Union ever again.  

During her last years, Lana lived in seclusion until her death.  Lana Peters died on November 22, 2011 in Richland Center, Wisconsin of colon cancer.  

Tragedy of the Commons

Volume II, Issue # 46- November 18-24, 2011

International Tribune

Simple common sense seems to be sadly missing in the GOP politics nowadays.  I have never witnessed a string of ‘oops’ during a presidential campaign.  The entire declared Republican contenders make Dan Quayle look like a genius.  The GOP’s search for the next man to unseat Obama from the White House has never been this entertaining.  From Santorum to Bachman, Perry to Cain, the GOP declared presidential candidates are turning out to be clowns.  The circus has, indeed, arrived in town.   

Clowns are attention getters and that is why they appear comical, theatrics, and at times, loud- uttering only but non-sense when they have a chance to speak.  They will prance around on stage to entertain you as much as they can to make the audience laugh.  Sadly, this is not a far reality in the 2012 race for the GOP presidential nomination. Everyone seems to be clowning around.  You Tube has had record-breaking hits in its site from the Rick Perry and Herman Cain ‘oops’ videos.  One can see this to be funny.  However, in reality, it is frightening to think that the Republican line-up is supposed to be the crème de la crème of the Grand Old Party.  And yet the Republican Party believes that it is the right party to better lead America today. 

GOP 2012 political caricature illustration by Donkey Hotey 
from www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey.

When one applies for the position of Commander-in- Chief of the most powerful nation on earth, automatically the job requires not only money and charisma but a stratospheric brain that can vigorously compete in the world stage.  Charisma maybe important but it can really just take one to a certain distance. Tons of money can provide for the campaign trails.  However, intelligence simply cannot be replaced by good looks or charm.  The presidential election is not a Miss Universe pageant.  Rick Perry may be the charmer of all the GOP candidates but his lack of knowledge of his own planned domestic policies was downright embarrassing if not alarming.   During a recent debate, Perry announced that once he becomes the President, he will immediately abolished three government agencies:  “I would do away with Commerce, Education, and what is the third one?”  A moment of very awkward silence follows.  “Oops, I can’t remember the third one,” blundered Perry.  If this does not convince anyone to end his effort, I never will discern the folly of wasting the hard-earned money of Mr. Perry's financial contributors. Perhaps this is a very valid reason why the Department of Education, in the final analysis, must not be abolished.  Some people, indeed, need further education.  

A couple of days later, another embarrassing video came out on another candidate.  While it seems like he was surviving the sexual harassments charges filed against him not by one woman but by several, what could very well be the real killer of his presidential dream is his obvious lack of knowledge in one of the most burning issues in foreign policy today – and not the pending cases against him.  It was very painful to watch Herman Cain being interviewed on the subject of Libya by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.  In the video Cain was asked if he agreed with Obama's support for the rebels against Muammar Gaddafi. Cain replied: "I do not agree with the way he handled it, for the following reason." After hesitation and shifting on his chair, he said: "Uh, nope, that's, that's a different one… see, I got to go back, see. Got all this stuff twirling around in my head?" And then Cain even tried to fish out for details from the interviewer.  It was obvious that the businessman from Georgia had no clue with what is being asked of him.  Or he simply just does not have the basic knowledge of international events and what goes on beyond the confines of his beloved native Atlanta.  I wonder how many stamps he has in his passport.  

Every GOP contender seems to start their argument that they will do a much better job than President Obama.  And they parade around shaking every average Joe’s hands in their campaign trails that they are just like anyone of them.  They seem to show how they feel their grief and that they are willing to work for the common good.   And that these candidates are here to help solve their fellow Americans' woes.  The main problem is that they really have not presented any substantial plan or strategy that can bail out this nation and its citizens from the economic pains that have beset them.  Not many would disagree that America’s recession today are brought on by the last Republican president in the White House and the administrations questionable relations with certain big businesses.  How can one believe that the average American is their main priority?  It only appears this way during the campaign circus.  This is the tragedy of pretending to be the commons. 

Remembering Armistice

Volume 2, Issue Number 45- November 11-17, 2011

International Tribune

Almost a century ago, during the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in Compiègne, France in 1918, the Allies of World War I and Germany signed a treaty to end the war to end all wars.  Fifteen years down the road, with great misfortune, the spirit of the Armistice Day treaty did not last very long in the European continent.  The Second World War took place, entangling more nations to the worst global conflict this planet had ever staged.  Have we truly learned from this immense catastrophe?  

Europe had staged some of the most lethal and engineered warfare since the dawn of time.  Whether it is in the name of religion or nationalism, the European continent has been embroiled in unending contentions that test the limits of mankind and the hostilities they have, indeed, imposed on one another. With billions of lives lost over time and unresolved ancient hatreds still looming in the relations of some, it is almost inexplicable how this continent has survived and remains an economic giant.  

There is no other place in the world where you can find a never ending list of conflicts since the first Trojan Wars in 1194 BC.  Any war historian can get lost remembering them all.  First came the religious wars starting with the Crusades (11^th-13^th century), the Reformation that started in Germany (1520-1540), the Eighty Years War (1568-1648), the French Wars of Religion (1562-1598), the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1639-1651), and etc… just to name a few.   Second, wars were fought for the glory of conquest, commencing with the Trojan Wars (1194 BC- 1184), War of the Roses, (1455-1487), French Revolutionary War (1792-1802), the two greatest world wars (1915 &1939).  And finally came the dark side of nationalistic fervor, beginning with the Post-Communist ethnic genocides that took place in the former Yugoslav Republics and the states of the Former Soviet Union, war has been part of life in this continent.

The English philosopher Thomas Hobbes once said, “The natural condition of man is a condition of war of everyone against everyone.”  And it gets even worse, apart from the order of society, Hobbes also plainly stated that every individual’s “life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.” Dark and dreary, Hobbes’s gloomy philosophy could have some practicality to our everyday lives today.  This was written four centuries ago and yet is still applicable in some society.  Whether you are in a battle field, or not, men’s natural instinct is to outdo one another for one’s self-preservation.  

Image from the New York Times

Today, the battle goes on in the European continent, but not necessarily with guns, artilleries, and tanks.  Contemporary hostilities are now in the corporate board room, in cyber space, and now in the European Parliament.  Disintegration of the European Union is hanging on a thin thread line that can once again, bring down the entire world- at least, economically.  The streets of Athens are in flames.  Greece is completely bankrupt and might soon leave the EU.  Italy is next to default.  France is worried to lose its standard credit rating.  And Spain is fighting for its survival with one of the worse unemployment rate among all the industrialized countries.  I wonder what is next.

The eleventh year of the twenty first century is about to end.  Luckily, wars are no longer fought in a global scale.  I just hope the genius Einstein can sometimes be wrong.  He once predicted, “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” Here is to remembering Armistice Day, and let the truce permanently shape relations among nations in the European continent and beyond.

Vote for Santorum?

Volume 2, Issue 43- October 28- November 3, 2011

International Tribune

Named as one of the “Most Ambitious” American politicians by PoliticsPA.com, a political junky-insider site in 2002, Rick Santorum is not giving up his dream of someday making it to the White House.  And just like what he said this time, “he is in it to win.”   Let us give him the benefit of the doubt, maybe he will. 

 

Who is Rick Santorum?

A true patriot, Santorum wants to defend America no matter what it takes.  He supported the war in Iraq and was very sure that weapons of mass destruction were being produced by Saddam’s government.  And maybe he still adamantly believes so after a wasteful gargantuan defense spendings that cost American tax-payers billions of dollars and spawned an inevitable graft and corruption that extended from the bank of Euphrates to the shores of America.  He introduced the term Islamic Fascism and blamed Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates for engaging in a dialogue with Iran and Syria.   During his last campaign stop in Greenville, South Carolina this week Santorum also made an announcement for his support of selective assassination of foreign scientists working on nuclear weapons.  Santorum was especially forceful regarding countries who pose a nuclear threat advocating for the selective assassination of scientists from countries such as Russia, North Korea and Iran.  He has conveniently forgotten that America also has the most extensive nuclear arsenal in the world and employs countless American scientists working on this particular project.

In terms of religion, Santorum is a devout Roman Catholic.  He is a son of Italian and Irish immigrants.  He was listed at one time by Time magazine as one of the most influential evangelists in the country.  During the Boston Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal, Santorum blamed the liberal city of Boston as the cause and effect of the scandal and said: “It is startling that those in the media and academia appear most disturbed by this aberrant behavior, since they have zealously promoted moral relativism by sanctioning private moral matters such as alternative lifestyles. Priests, like all of us, are affected by culture. When the culture is sick, every element in it becomes infected. While it is no excuse for this scandal, it is no surprise that Boston, a seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America, lies at the center of the storm.”  

Rick Santorum is also known as one of the most daring political figures in America today for his ‘in your face’ type of politics.  A conservative right-wing Republican presidential runner, Santorum has been perceived as the candidate who speaks the most about social issues that are ailing the nation such as abortion, gays in the military, gay marriage, immigration and many more.  His overwhelming stance on such subject is very simple-he is completely against all of them.  Santorum has openly stated his strong opposition to amnesty for undocumented immigrants. He supports the construction of a barrier along the U.S.–Mexican border.  He promotes healthy, stable, and traditional family therefore, homosexuality and gay-marriage is out of the question.  Santorum voted to outlaw abortion for any reason, with the exception when his wife Karen was going to die if her pregnancy was not ended.  So, at 20 weeks, one month before what doctors consider ‘viability’, Karen Santorum labor was artificially induced and the infected fetus was delivered.  “Abortion in any form is wrong,” said Santorum in 2000, three years after the tragedy.

With the Republican primaries looming on the political horizon and many of its runners are trying to get the social conservative voters to push them forward over other GOP candidates the big question remains, can this eventually help or hinder Santorum's quest for the GOP presidential nomination?  For Rick Santorum, it is that time to sing the tune and dance the step whether right or wrong– to remain competitive in the race.  

Seriously, will you vote for Santorum?  

Let's talk about sex

Volume 2, Issue 42- October 21-27, 2011

International Tribune

How can you satisfy frustrated conservative French Parliamentarians?   

This is a tough one to discuss.  The frustration is growing.  The scene is becoming dirtier.  This time it involves gender and politics.  

Since September this year, a new chapter in life science books on gender theory and sexuality sparked a nasty debate between the French conservatives and the Minister of Education, Luc Chattel.   About 80 members of the Assemblée Nationale wrote to the Minister of Education to remove the chapter that introduces the subject of gender theory and sexuality in the school curriculum.  The conservative majority view this to be of a private matter between the student and his or her family, and not the public school system.  French conservatives adamantly called for the withdrawal and see this as another way to mix homosexuality and politics, which has become a thorny issue in France since President Sarkozy opposed the legalization of gay marriage. And what is equally important for the conservative wing is that gender theory is not based in real scientific evidence, and therefore, do not belong in a science text book.  

Illustration by Søren Laursen

Where does the frustration lie?  Hachette, a publishing giant for French scholars added a new topic in their life science text books for high school students, a chapter of gender theory and human sexuality.  In the new book published this year, students will be discussing the topic of, “Becoming Woman or Man”, which introduces the idea that “biological sex identifies us as a male or female”, but is not in itself enough “for us to describe ourselves as masculine or feminine.”  The chapter also makes a distinction that, “sexual identity, constructed throughout one’s life, is a constant interaction between biology and the socio-cultural context, yet is decisive in our positioning in relation to others.”

French philosopher Simone de Beauvoir wrote in 1949, “One is not born into a woman, one becomes one.”  For an outsider, one would think that the French would be more practical and not oppose such topic.  Believe it or not, the subject of gender studies, which has been a regular course in most colleges in America, is just arriving in France.  For the first time this year, Science Po, one of France’s top universities in social science, will offer a course on gender studies.   The school of thought has been pioneered by American sociologists and feminists such as Judith Butler.  But the French have also been involved in shaping the theory with psychoanalysts such as Jacques Lacan.  However, it never made the text books in the public schools.  

Sex or gender talk, let’s face it, is the most dreaded challenge for every parent to discuss with their children.  Why would politicians stick their nose in it?  At times, some parents will purposely forget to talk about the ‘birds and the bees’ altogether.  Why not let a chapter or two about gender theory to be part of the school curriculum- just like how we have opened the learning and exploration of the sun, the moon, the nine planets, and the stars.  Once they read it, it does not mean they will head there.  

Be that as it may, this is a sign of progress, whether you live in France or in America.   Our society is becoming more sensitive and conscientious about human sexuality and its role in our community as a whole.  This is a good path we are heading.  We have to start talking to prevent a topic from being a taboo forever.  So let’s keep talking.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of challenges ahead for the French conservatives.  Not only are they expected to lose the majority in the government next year, but they are also likely to lose the Elysée.  How can you help such a frustrated group?  I am just glad that the guillotine has long been illegal.