According to the most "retro" version of male-female complimentarity:
The man gave names to all the tame animals, all the birds of the air, and all the wild animals; but none proved to be a helper suited to the man. So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. The LORD God then built the rib that he had taken from the man into a woman. When he brought her to the man, he man said: “This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; This one shall be called ‘woman,’ for out of man this one has been taken.”
That is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body (Genesis 2:20-24).
It only stands to reason that if Biblically-based morality is passé and public officials can cohabitate with impunity, then the wider culture will not grasp what good a wife is. France is facing the challenge of having chosen a President with four children, no wife, a series of long-term girlfriends, and a new quasi-public extra-marital affair:
Unlike in the U.S., there is no tradition in France of presidents’ wives or partners being accorded official status and using their position to promote favourite causes. (Think Michele Obama and childhood obesity or Barbara Bush and combatting drug use among young people.) Rather, they are supposed to look decorative, appear in public with their husbands — and, above all, be discreet. They have no official position or budget.
And until Ms. Trierweiler they have all been wives. The women the Americans dubbed “the First Girlfriend” is the first unmarried partner to move officially into the Elysée.
Perhaps unease about her marital status is to blame for her poor image. Taxpayers were resentful at having to shell out to support her — unelected, unmarried — especially when many are struggling to make ends meet.
It didn’t help that Ms. Trierweiler showed herself prickly and vindictive — not for nothing has she been dubbed “the Rottweiler.” She threatened lawsuits for media coverage she deemed intrusive and publicly attacked Mr. Hollande’s former partner, Ségolène Royal, the mother of his four children. The president appeared henpecked.
So instead of wondering what the difference between a wife and a girlfriend might be, or whether marriage is itself a good thing, or how healthy marriages differ from toxic relationships, the French have decided to continue down the post-Christian slippery slope into human chaos. At a gut level, they may dislike bossy women or fatherless children, but the über-secular society has nothing to say about the institution of marriage itself or the vocation of woman.
This columnist (a woman, no less!) has a view of woman that, while embarrassing, explains the shallow scope of the chattering classes in regards to wives:
Apart from anything else, Hollande’s complex love life is the sole interesting thing about the man: it proved he was almost human. He should remember what purpose First Ladies serve in modern politics. They add lustre to tarnished middle-aged males and sex appeal by association. There’s the implication that if a woman as gleaming and smart as a Valérie, or a Carla, chooses a François or a Nicolas, then he must be witty and alluring in the bedchamber. The same is true in Blighty. Gordon Brown was unelectable before Sarah, while David Cameron gains incalculable points through his cool, tattooed wife.
These women provide set dressing of the highest calibre and, one feels, advice of the utmost subtlety. After all, they’re not just wives, they’re high-flying professionals, who can sniff out dissent and neutralise it before their grumpy husband has lost his composure.
Ugh. Yes, women have a different sort of radar, but when engaged in this sort of mission, it undermines every one involved--not to mention the wider culture. Could someone please remind France--the eldest daughter of the Church--what marriage is all about, and where women's true dignity lies? Could someone revisit the most basic of institutions that provides the foundation of every society?
Comments