Sections
Magazine
Latest Issue

The future of the UK seems perpetually in peril. As Andrew Marr argues in this month’s cover story, nothing is inevitable about Scotland’s breakaway, but London’s complacence is making it more likely. Also in this issue: Jill Rutter explores how we’re coping outside the single market, Eliane Glaser has been horrified by the education jargon being foisted on her children during her time homeschooling, and Miranda France gives her verdict on the new Kazuo Ishiguro.

Read Now Or Checkout the archive
Previous
March 2021
January/February 2021
December 2020
November 2020
Events
Next Event

Watch: How do we stop a generation from sleepwalking into retirement?

Previous
Watch: Homes for all—what new social and affordable housing can do for Britain
Watch: The 2020 Think Tank Awards Ceremony
Watch: What next for pensions? Why the 2020s are the crunch decade
To the archive
Podcast
Latest Episode

The Prospect Interview #169: Andrew Marr on break-up Britain

Previous
The Prospect Interview #168: Karachi Vice, with Samira Shackle
The Prospect Interview #167: We are Bellingcat, with Eliot Higgins
The Prospect Interview #166: The unofficial Covid-19 inquiry
To the archive
Magazine Opinions Politics

Liberty, equality, patriarchy: why so many French women are opposed to #metoo

Women like Deneuve, Bardot and Lahaie are attached to the French myth of freedom. After all, they’ve risen to the top by playing by the patriarchy's rules

By Lucy Wadham  
February 19, 2018
March 2018

Catherine Deneuve is just one of the actresses who has criticised

“Rape is a crime, but…” So begins a letter sent to Le Monde, signed by over 100 women from the highest spheres of French society—authors, artists, performers and academics—deploring the wave of “denunciations” triggered by France’s version of the #MeToo movement, #BalanceTonPorc (call out your pig).

The letter goes on to affirm that a new British and American-style puritanism has been unleashed on France by the sexual harassment scandals. Men, they wrote, must be “free…

Register today to continue reading

You’ve hit your limit of three articles in the last 30 days. To get seven more, simply enter your email address below.

You’ll also receive our free e-book Prospect’s Top Thinkers 2020 and our newsletter with the best new writing on politics, economics, literature and the arts.

Prospect may process your personal information for our legitimate business purposes, to provide you with newsletters, subscription offers and other relevant information.

Click here to learn more about these purposes and how we use your data. You will be able to opt-out of further contact on the next page and in all our communications.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to letters@prospect-magazine.co.uk

Lucy Wadham

Lucy Wadham’s study of the French, “The Secret Life of France,” is published by Faber

More stories by Lucy Wadham

More From Prospect