30 March, 2008 | Leave a Comment
I’m a little late on this, but I wanted to write something about the state visit to the UK last week by Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni. The media and politicians made fools of themselves by falling all over “Mrs. Sarkozy.” It was sad, really. Apparently MPs were all dying to get a glimpse of her. Her image was splashed across the front page of every newspaper and she was the subject of endless column inches. Political news took a backseat to what Bruni was wearing, from her laughable Jackie Kennedy imitation to her shoes (featured on the front page of The Independent, above). Based on the coverage, you would think that Britain is just some hillbilly backwater where they’ve never seen a woman with a full set of teeth.
I really doubt the average person on the street gave a care about any of this. I certainly have no interest in Bruni and I don’t understand the allure of someone who looks like a cat. I’ve been thinking about the hysteria she caused, though, and why people reacted the way they did.
The British news media views women in a very simplistic way — women are either saintly models of womanhood or whores (or, even better, crazy-whores). There’s really no in-between. The Queen: Saintly. Camilla Parker-Bowles: Whore. Heather Mills: Crazy-Whore. Angelina Jolie: Originally a Crazy-Whore, now firmly a Saint. Princess Diana: Originally a Saint, but then a Crazy-Whore. Most female victims of crime in this country are reduced to one of these categories as well. Meredith Kercher: Saintly. Scarlett Keeling: Whore. [Ladies, for a bit of fun, imagine you were brutally strangled to death by a psycho. How would the British tabloids portray you? Saint or Whore? Hmmmm?]
The interesting thing about Carla Bruni is that she straddles these two categories, which is what explains her allure for the press. For the most part, she’s a Whore. Before the visit, it was announced that Christie’s was going to auction a nude portrait of Bruni. This gave the newspapers here an excuse to print the photo in all its glory — it was printed everywhere, though it really had no news value whatsoever, given that the photo is over a decade old. The photo was reprinted so many times as a way to embarrass Sarkozy and the French and to call the French first lady a “slut” without actually saying it. We mostly hear about Bruni in the media as a maneater who steals men like Mick Jagger from their wives and leaves a trail of broken hearts and broken homes in her wake. Now as the first lady of the French Republic, she has literally slept her way right to the top. Besides the misogyny involved in this coverage, there is also a lot of anti-French bias mixed in, which makes it even more delicious for the press. The Brits may trip over themselves to be near Carla, but they’d never tolerate a hussy like that in No. 10. Only the French would allow such tawdriness.
This week, however, Bruni moved from her designation of Whore to a more saintly model of womanhood. As soon as she stepped off the plane in her little hat and gloves, it was clear that in the eyes of the press, she would make an Angelina Jolie-esque transformation from manipulative slut to a figure all women should emulate and admire. [Jordan straddles these two categories as well; she's mostly a whore, but sometimes she's portrayed as a saintly mother figure -- having a disabled child certainly helps in that regard.] Throughout the state visit, Bruni has been portrayed as a model of decorum. Prince Phillip, alone with Bruni during that Windsor carriage ride, apparently almost melted in her presence. While Sarkozy addressed parliament, Bruni stared admiringly at him (as in the photo, above). Bruni has been tamed. She has firmly embraced her new role as a silent appendage to the French president and a mannequin for conservative Dior clothes. Not only that, but the media can use the super-stylish Bruni to disparage all British women. The papers loved to compare Bruni to the frumpy old Camilla, who is apparently representative of the sorry state of British womanhood. I heard over and over again this week that the appearance of Bruni in Britain, with her effortless and sophisticated French style, just highlights the way that British women are slobs who have let themselves go. When one woman can be used to put other women down, members of the media practically wet themselves with glee.
It’s clear that the obsessive attention paid to Carla Bruni this week is because the media and powerful men can project their sexist stereotypes and fantasies onto her. She can be used and then discarded when they’ve tired of her, or if they don’t simply discard her, they’ll turn on her like a pack of vicious dogs. They’ll print close-up photos of her ass covered in cellulite, whatever it takes to tear her down. After all, she is completely dehumanized.
Lest you think I am coming to the defense of Bruni, I am not. For the record, I find Carla Bruni to be a repugnant figure. She is portrayed as some sort of liberated feminist. This lazy definition of feminism is convenient for many. What has Carla Bruni done to make herself so liberated? She has spent most of her adult life as a model — thus, she has spent most of her adult life molding herself to please the desires of the patriarchal media and fashion industry. How is that liberated? Then we hear that she sleeps with lots of famous men and doesn’t believe in monogamy. Again, how does this make her liberated? It seems to me her entire self is defined in relation to men. Without men, what is Carla Bruni? She is nothing.
So my objections to the coverage of Carla Bruni do not stem from any concerns about her well-being. I doubt Carla Bruni minds the media attention paid to her, even the kind that portrays her as a whore. She seems to encourage this kind of coverage; indeed, her fame is built upon it. My concern is that this kind of media coverage degrades all women and reveals the ugly assumptions about women that are so prevalent today.
Tags: Carla Bruni, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, Nicolas Sarkozy
Anglofille said @ 1:40 pm | feminism, news & politics |
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[Ladies, for a bit of fun, imagine you were brutally strangled to death by a psycho. How would the British tabloids portray you? Saint or Whore? Hmmmm?]
You should do a poll on this.
I’d like to think crazy-whore, but with the little kid and all you never know - maybe saint. Until they found out we’ve been co-sleeping with Buddy, crazy-whore.
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Well, they may start out portraying you as a saint, until they find evidence to show that you’re really a crazy-whore who deserved to be murdered. Of course, being American wouldn’t help your case — or mine. I’m sure we all know which category I’d land in after they find the feminist rantings on this blog.
Just as an aside, someone I know recently asked if “fille” means “whore” in French, as if my blog title means ‘Anglowhore.’
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Haha! I had a really good laugh with your post today. Loved it! Carla Bruni, definitely a whore, moi…saint, of course. Have a great week!
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Gregory Says:
March 31st, 2008 at 8:10 pmYou can’t be a whore if you’re 15.
Great Britain is a backwater in my opinion, but perhaps that is because I grew up there as I worked underneath the wreckage Radio Normandy
http://www.ibcstudio.co.uk/earlydaysindex.html
I think Carla Bruni is a legitimate artist, as they say, she’s talented, make’s it all the more infuriating I suppose.
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Mr. Toilet Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 4:16 pm“You can’t be a whore if you’re 15.”
Gregory’s clearly never been to Barnsley.
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SpliceGirl Says:
April 1st, 2008 at 6:49 pmIs that really the picture they put on front of a newspaper/magazine? Of whore-saint’s legs? God, it really just makes you not want to leave your house anymore. How stupid.
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Yes, that’s the actual front page of the newspaper. And “The Independent” is one of the more serious papers!!!
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Gregory Says:
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:45 pmThere is no such thing (according to the UN) as a 15 year old whore or a 15 year old prostitute.
I gather the police in Barnsley are claiming victory in the struggle against forced prostitution. White Slavery Problem over.
Thankfully without the need to close any brothels (which are theoretially illegal).
If it will cheer you up I’ll get my lawyer to organize that admission by the local cops in Barnsley.
I won’t do it in person because of ‘difficulties’ vis a vis the last brothels they raided for me, the victims were not treated so good.
We interview when they get back to Lithuania etc.
I do try to spend my American money as cleverly as possible and I don’t trust Yorkshire police officers, I never have.
It is intersting because in Barnsley, they bring along a sound recorder and play the girl a message, in whatever language they guess she speaks.
(The idea of voiced consent has never been a big feature of British policing)
Barnsley was also to the fore in the campaign to abolish hanging for the crime of rape, there were petitions, generally signed only by men.
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Caroline Says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 pmCarla is a recording artist who writes her own songs. Doesn’t that count?
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Most models become “actors” or “singers.” Yet another cliche!
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I love the headline in The Independent:
France 1, England 0.
Whatever Carla is or isn’t you can’t argue over the fact she’s got a great pair of pins.
