Trannies on parade!
OK, so after the previous wonky and dry discussion of the squatter expulsion at Cachan, I have to have a more interesting post.
Libération reports that there was a "prostitute pride" march on Saturday from Pigalle to the Centre Pompidou. In France, prostitution is legal in and of itself, but criminalized indirectly through a variety of laws, including one against "racolage passif" or "passive soliciting" passed in 2003.
Anyway, guess who is the first person quoted and identified by name in the article? "Maîtresse Nikita, dominatrice et prostituée depuis trente et un ans, Jean-François dans le civil, perruque noire, juchée sur des bottines à talons effilés." Yup, a trannie dominatrix in platform stilettos! After her, who do we have, according to this article? Another trannie (no stilettos, though), a young man named Venus with "ballerina legs" and a hooded guy on a leash. Then a token ethnologist-activist, and another trannie bringing up the rear.
This is such a common theme in newspaper and TV reports on gay pride marches, especially in France, so it's not a big surprise that it pops up here again, just a mildly depressing one.
Six-foot-tall transsexuals in platforms tend to realize that they attract a lot of attention to themselves and don't have a problem with it. They can be awesome spokespeople. And of course at least one of the goals of gay pride marches, at least when they started, was to épater la bourgeoisie, and I'm sure that was part of the appeal of a prostitutes' pride march. But I feel that the "lead with the trannie" approach to journalistic coverage of every single public event of sex and gender revendication ends up feeling a little tired and slightly insincere.
I get the feeling that Libération is generally sympathetic to the plight of the prostitute, especially since they hate Sarkozy too. Le Monde doesn't seem to have any coverage at all. However, the article seems to hold the marchers at arm's length. There is as much coverage of what the marchers look like-- at least the more colorful ones-- as coverage of what they are protesting or hope to achieve. The wardrobe descriptions are more precise than the description of the political platform. Add to that the categorizations-- "les arpenteuses latino-américaines des allées du bois de Boulogne" and "les bitumeuses de la rue Saint-Denis" and this article feels a lot like objectification, not solidarity.
Libération reports that there was a "prostitute pride" march on Saturday from Pigalle to the Centre Pompidou. In France, prostitution is legal in and of itself, but criminalized indirectly through a variety of laws, including one against "racolage passif" or "passive soliciting" passed in 2003.
Anyway, guess who is the first person quoted and identified by name in the article? "Maîtresse Nikita, dominatrice et prostituée depuis trente et un ans, Jean-François dans le civil, perruque noire, juchée sur des bottines à talons effilés." Yup, a trannie dominatrix in platform stilettos! After her, who do we have, according to this article? Another trannie (no stilettos, though), a young man named Venus with "ballerina legs" and a hooded guy on a leash. Then a token ethnologist-activist, and another trannie bringing up the rear.
This is such a common theme in newspaper and TV reports on gay pride marches, especially in France, so it's not a big surprise that it pops up here again, just a mildly depressing one.
Six-foot-tall transsexuals in platforms tend to realize that they attract a lot of attention to themselves and don't have a problem with it. They can be awesome spokespeople. And of course at least one of the goals of gay pride marches, at least when they started, was to épater la bourgeoisie, and I'm sure that was part of the appeal of a prostitutes' pride march. But I feel that the "lead with the trannie" approach to journalistic coverage of every single public event of sex and gender revendication ends up feeling a little tired and slightly insincere.
I get the feeling that Libération is generally sympathetic to the plight of the prostitute, especially since they hate Sarkozy too. Le Monde doesn't seem to have any coverage at all. However, the article seems to hold the marchers at arm's length. There is as much coverage of what the marchers look like-- at least the more colorful ones-- as coverage of what they are protesting or hope to achieve. The wardrobe descriptions are more precise than the description of the political platform. Add to that the categorizations-- "les arpenteuses latino-américaines des allées du bois de Boulogne" and "les bitumeuses de la rue Saint-Denis" and this article feels a lot like objectification, not solidarity.
posted by Françoise Villon at 2:17 PM
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