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The French are supposed to be all enlightened, but apparently not when it comes to sex toys: Catholic groups are trying to get a sex shop closed down on the grounds that it's selling "pornographic" materials near a school. But if if they succeed, sex shops could be banned from everywhere but "cemeteries, public gardens and railways." More »
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A new book that's been making the rounds on the parenting scene, Bringing Up Bebe by Pamela Druckerman, would like you to know that your American child rearing techniques are creating an army of self-entitled little monsters hellbent on eating their way through your home and probably your soul. Well, what did you — with your NASCAR t-shirt and that slice of Kraft cheese hanging out of your mouth — expect? That, by comforting your crying infant, you weren't spoiling an entire generation? Ha, typical American arrogance. What you should be doing is raising your kids the French way by feeding them solely Gauloises cigarettes and unfiltered wine. More »
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Police have arrested Jean-Claude Mas, the founder of the French company that made breast implants with industrial-grade silicone that may leak into women's bodies and give them cancer. Mas was apparently also wanted by Interpol, but not for implant malfeasance — he had a drunk driving charge in Costa Rica. Of the arrest, his lawyer says, "Everything's fine. This conforms to procedure. There's nothing extraordinary. Stop looking for the scoop." For the women who are now wondering if they should get Mas's implants removed or continue to risk cancer, however, everything is most certainly not fine. More »
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People (including us) have been talking a lot about Dominique Strauss-Kahn's wife Anne Sinclair in recent months. But she's said almost nothing. Now she's given an interview to French Elle that gets me on her side — kind of. More »
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Dominique Strauss-Kahn's wife Anne Sinclair has been named the editor of the French edition of The Huffington Post, which will be called, appropriately, Le Huffington Post. Sinclair does have a journalism background — she used to host a major TV interview show in France, but not everyone is convinced that a woman currently most famous for helping her husband battle various rape charges is the best choice to head Le HuffPo. One editor told French magazine L'Express, "Anne Sinclair is no longer a journalist. When she publicly compared the DSK affair to the Dreyfus affair, she lost her objectivity." More »
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Batten down the freedom doors and don't even think about downing another French fry, because the Republican party is this close to nominating Reagan-hating liberal Mitt Romney. What's that? All that stuff about keeping government small, but incredibly involved in women's uteruses made you think he's a Republican? You're sorely mistaken, my friend. As this Newt Gingrich campaign ad explains, Romney and John Kerry are virtually the same person. In fact, "Just like John Kerry, he speaks French, too." We didn't want to believe it either, but there he is, boldly declaring, "Je m'appelle Mitt Romney." He's probably conspiring with those European bastards on the best way to get to the library as we speak! More »
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Sacre bleu. Upscale French chain La Redoute is being figuratively boiled in a creamy sauce after its website featured an image of children frolicking happily on a picturesque beach... and a naked guy, wang languidly flopping against his thighs, in the background. More »
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After more than 30,000 women in France received dangerously toxic breast implants manufactured by Poly Implant Prothese (PIP), new information has come to light that's making it clear the now-bankrupt company should probably have been shut down a long time ago. More »
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Anne Sinclair has won the title of "Woman of the Year" in a French magazine poll, for the accomplishment of standing by her man Dominique Strauss-Kahn through accusations of sexual assault, involvement in a prostitution ring, and general dickish behavior. She beat out Christine Lagarde, who stepped in to head the IMF after DSK was ousted, and Carla Bruni. Reuters notes that Sinclair was well-known before her marriage to Strauss-Kahn for her "TV interviews and mohair sweaters," which may have given her an edge. We wonder if she'll have to give the title back if she files for divorce. More »
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Recently we've seen an uptick in stories about people injecting everything from non-medical silicone to cement into various body parts they'd like to see bigger. Usually, these procedures are performed by people who don't even play doctors on TV, but in France, tens of thousands of women wound up with a toxic chemical in their body after having a legitimate cosmetic surgery procedure. More »
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Hind Ahmas, a 32-year-old French mother, is facing two years in prison and a $42,000 fine because she refuses to accept the government's new ban on wearing the burqa or niqab in public. Ahmas was banned from her own trial yesterday because she wouldn't remove her veil, and during the proceeding she was ordered to spend 15 days learning about her civic duties. She responded, "There is no possibility of me removing the veil ... I'm not taking it off. The judge needs citizenship lessons, not me." Ahmas is expected to become the first woman sentenced to jail under the ban, and she plans to bring her case before the European Court of Human Rights. More »
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Sienna Miller was in Paris over the weekend, hosting a party for French label Lancel, who was celebrating "135 Years of French Légèreté." Damn, that is a lot of "lightness" (or "frivolity" depending on your translation) for a culture that is not generally known for its levity. Case in point: most of the women showed up in heavy coats, proving that one can be warm and glamorous, no matter what those glossies tell you. More »
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Air France has decided that the misguided French ban on wearing face coverings in public is only in effect on land. According to the company's lawyers, flight crews can't tell a Muslim woman to remover her religious garb since, "The law can only be enforced by police and other public officials on the ground." Airline employees say they have no problem with a woman wearing a burqa on a flight as long as she's been through security. "Security on board a plane does not have much to do with whether one's face is visible or not," said one pilot. "Besides, on long-haul flights a lot of passengers hide their face with eye masks when they go to sleep." More »
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Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, wife of French President Nicholas Sarkozy, has given birth to a baby girl, according to reports. More »
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French prosecutors dropped their investigation against Dominique Strauss-Kahn last week, but his name was only out of headlines for about 1.5 seconds. Now he's accused of involvement in a prostitution ring that brought Belgian women to French hotels. More »
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Today Dominique Strauss-Kahn was confronted by Tristane Banon, who says he tried to rape her in 2003, in a meeting arranged by police. Neither side veered from their version of events, and Banon reports that Strauss-Kahn was characteristically arrogant and avoided looking her in the eye. More »
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Soon you may be able to forget what you learned in French class about when to call a woman "madame," and when to use "mademoiselle" (if you haven't already forgotten every lesson from high school French). Two French feminist groups have launched a new campaign to do away with titles that refer to a woman's age and marital status. More »
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Today in DSK: a face-to-face meeting between the ex-IMF chief and his French accuser could be in the offing, and she says she's ready to sue. Also, Law & Order: SVU offered its version of the case last night. More »
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France instituted a ban on wearing face coverings in public in April, and the first fines may be handed down this week. In the past six months, authorities have been hesitant to enforce the measure, and many police officers are simply looking the other way when they see a woman in a veil. While the ban was ostensibly enacted to keep women safe, its biggest effect to date has been to increase the street harassment of Muslim women. More »
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Oh, that's fine then: Dominique Strauss-Kahn told French police he was just trying to kiss writer Tristiane Banon, who has accused him of attempted rape. A source familiar with the investigation told a French magazine, More »
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Due to a shortage of mosques, some Parisian Muslims have taken to praying in the street. However, the French far right doesn't like it — and a new law will ban the practice. More »
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Dominique Strauss-Kahn is back in France, but his troubles with the law aren't over yet. He's now being questioned regarding rape allegations made by writer Tristiane Banon. More »
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When we last checked in with Dominique Strauss-Kahn, he said he wanted to "apologize" several times, but it was unclear if the "mistake" he referred to involved forcing hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo to perform oral sex on him. On Sunday he returned to Paris, and was suddenly jovial, though quiet about the matter. He said only "a bientot," and smiled as he wheeled his luggage through Charles de Gaulle airport. Later outside his home, he and his wife waved at paparazzi before heading inside. More »
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Though photos of an adorable baby certainly wouldn't hurt French President Nicolas Sarkozy's expected reelection campaign, First Lady Carla Bruni says we'll never see shots of their child. She said in a TV interview: More »
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We're sorry to report that a tragedy has occurred in France, leaving dieters across the globe shaken and confused. French women, whose inability to gain an ounce has been studied by hundreds of diet books, are gaining weight. And as you might expect, Americans are partially to blame. More »
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McDonald's knows how to make authentic cultural cuisine. Just ask any Irish person about their Shamrock shakes! So the French must be psyched about the company's announcement that it will soon add baguettes to its menu in France. For too long the French have been forced to buy their bread at traditional boulangeries. Finally, they can enjoy mystery meats on hard, mass-produced hunks of baguette. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5825862&view=rss&microfeed=true Sacre bleu. The French government has banned use of the words "Twitter" and "Facebook" from television and the radio, unless being used in a news story involving either social network. The given reason? A relatively recent law that declares mention of a service by name is advertising. Says Christine Kelly, a spokesperson for France's Conseil Superieur de l'Audiovisuel, More »
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French women's groups say complaints of sexual harassment have risen a full 600% since Dominique Strauss-Kahn's alleged assault of a hotel maid. Women may feel more comfortable speaking out — but they may also be responding to men's dismissive attitude toward the story. More »
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The accusations against Dominique Strauss-Kahn are inspiring other women to come forward — two former employees are now accusing a civil service minister of assault. But at the IMF, not everyone agrees that harassment has been minimized. More »
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JeChange.fr is a bill-consolidation and insurance company currently running some fairly scandalous ads with their slogan, "It's always worth shopping around." Of course it's always worth shopping around — be it for clothing, groceries...or men. More »
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This Sunday afternoon, May 22nd, hundreds of men and women gathered in a square by the Pompidou Center in the center of Paris to speak up against the sexist statements made by French journalists and politicians, following the arrest of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. More »
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It's hard to find anything good about the Dominique Strauss-Kahn assault scandal, given that it's led to rampant rape apology and intense scrutiny into the life of the accuser. But there may be one silver lining: French women are finally speaking up about harassment. More »
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Economist/gameshow host/Ferris Bueller actor Ben Stein has issued a blisteringly offensive, eight-point defense of Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Yes, defense. Let's break it down, shall we? More »
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Defenses of Dominique Strauss-Kahn keep pouring in — an anonymous source says his encounter with a hotel maid may have been consensual, and his ex-wife says he can't possibly be guilty. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5802696&view=rss&microfeed=true French President Nicolas Sarkozy's father is confirming rumors that First Lady Carla Bruni is pregnant. "The two do not want to know the gender in advance, but I'm sure it will be a girl and as beautiful as Carla," says Pal Sarkozy, who has ultrasounds for eyes. More »
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Dominique Strauss-Kahn has become instantly infamous in the US after his alleged assault of a hotel maid. But before that, he was known both as "the great seducer" and as the major hope of the French left. Let's take a tour of his past, present, and future. More »
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IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was examined yesterday for physical evidence that he sexually assaulted a Manhattan hotel maid. And now, another woman has come forward to accuse him of assault. More »
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Literally. For the past two weeks I have been collecting photos of billboard ads that I spotted around Paris. I wanted to write a post about gender roles in advertising. Then something happened this week, that made me think of the link in between the representation of female bodies in ads and the way that real women are treated in the street. More »
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Some French lawmakers want to make it illegal to solicit prostitutes. Their argument: all prostitution supports sex trafficking. More »
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This morning, two women were detained at a protest of France's veil ban outside Notre Dame Cathedral. France's ban on women covering their faces — effectively preventing women from wearing the niqab or a burqa — goes into effect today. Violators of the ban must pay a fine of 150 Euros. More »
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