FEMINISM IN 1958

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 41, 12 November 1918, Page 3

FEMINISM IN 1958

PEEPS INTO THE FUTURE A DELIGHTFUL SATIRE Clement Vautel, a noted French satirist, has published in a Parisian magazine, "Je Sais Tout," a delightful satire upon the woman's emancipation movement. For the following translation of tho article we are indebted to the Now York "Times":— In that time women were happy (so they said). They voted; thev tried cases; they carried sacks weighing 120 kilos; they debated in tho Chamber and the Senate; they ran express trains; they belonged to the' Academy of Inscriptions and BellesLotties-, the'y smoked; they speculated on the Exchange; they wore jockeys; they ■wrote books on political economy;' they fired off cannon; and, long since, had renounced the petticoats of mothers to adopt instead father's trousers, 6ymbol and palladium of the enfranchisement of the sex held for centuries in subjection to the tyranny of man. Women had captured, one by one, the fortresses where mnsculine feudalism offered resistance. They recalled with pride tho most beautiful victories won in that long war. In 1917/ 28 women had entered the Chamber. Since then they had almofjt completely driven out the bearded race. In 1933 the Court for the trial of misdemeanors (president, tho Citizeness Cesarine Bourru) had sentenced to a week's imprisonment an old gentleman, the Marquis Seraphin des Angelures, who, in an aero-bus, had dared to offer his seat to a citizeness of the Metal Syndicate. The sentence was prefaced by this argument: "Whereas, the action of the citizen des Angelures has been inspired by. the ridiculous and outrageous sentiment of gallantry which, under the masculine regime, evidenced the state of inferiority and enslavement of woman," etc., etc. In 1931, five citizenesses were appointed head porters of the Parisian Markets. In 1935 the law was enacted granting to . all citizenesses the right to wear trousers. In 1946 women were admitted to the corps of the police and to the Bepublican Guard. • But the true Feminist Fourteenth of July fell on September 1, 1955. On that day the Congress of Versailles elected' as President of the Eepubhc the Citizeness Christians Mirveille Fromageot. President Fromageot put on the professional garb of the chief of the State, saying: "Ah! if my poor mother could see mc now; in her time they still wore-petti-When the High Chancellor of the Legion of Honour brought her the collar ol Grand Master of the order, President Fromageot declared, with a dignified air "No necklace! . . . The necklaci

has been "for too long the badge of woman's servitude!" • , She was, besides, immortalised in the painting of Coralie. Mitouflet of the Institute of France, a'painting preserved in tho Pantheon, the front of which building, modified, corrected, and rid ot all its masculine personages, bears the fa- • moiis device-.— To the Great Women-The Grateful , k ' Country. This triumph of the Feminist idea .had, : of course, transformed, nay, turned upside down, French society of the old type. The frivolous, capricious, many-sided and coquettish,-woman had completely ■ disappeared, without causing too much regret. The last specimens of that obsoi lete type were, moreover, of an ago that | rendered ineffectual its last attempts, at ~ captivation. , ' ■ ' Marriage had'lost'its old character; it •was nothing but a partnership of two I equal beings, that is to say, of two rivals. . Madamo was no longer bound to.tollow i her husband everywhere. She went to her club as she went to her factory, to her office, to ner amusements. When tho association had lasted long enough, at the pleasure of one or the other of the interested parties, a simple notice-print- • ed formulas were to bo had by the public at all post offices-seut by means of the pneumatic tube, annulled this truly modern marriage. ' Needless to say, the liberated did not know the coquettish ways of their mothers. Long sjnee the manufac urcrs of fans, face powder, lace, etc., had tailed The fashion magazines had been transformed into political-economic . reviews. The last "midinette" had been convicted ... of "wearing a costume said to be feminine, as it reminds one of the"petticoat." Men no longer sought, as formerly, the society of women. The time of flirtations, love letters, madrigals, of all those trifles which had delighted so many generations, .had long been passed. Therefore, even when travelling, the sons ot Adam cared very little about associating "with the daughters of Eve. True politeness of a male,to a female citizen consisted in elbowing her everyI where like a comrade. .... Trying to ki«s the hand of a woman was accounted a grave insult; offering her an arm was an eccentricity that inevitably brought the | perpetrator to a special division'ot lan insane asylum. "And the children?" you ask. I knew you would ask that question. ... _, They became ever scarcer, lhey were j picked up every week in each street by a special official and taken to a State institution, where they were raised according to I the principles of official t. morals. The few mothers who kept their ' children at home were looked upon as I eccentrics, and were pursued in the streets by female "Apaches, who threw stones at them. , _ Now, it happened that in February, 1958, an astonishing, surprising, bewildering, dumbfounding poster was mysteriously posted on the walls of Paris. It read as follows:— . . . ~ «a League of' the "New Feminists. J J Women! Liberty weighs us down. || Besides, liko all liberties, it is a false SJ liberty. "1 .We are told that our mothers were unII h *RP y - „ „ H Were they?

' No! SI They Were Loved! $ Our mothers were: Wives—That is, queens of the homo; Mothers—That is, queens of the family; M Women-That is, queens of man. «J What have they made us? H Servants of all who formerly were the |j slaves of one only. Bj Formerly we were asked to be good, 111 to be (beautiful. , , n To-day they want us to be homely and \u bad everything that is neuter. ||l Our liberty loads us with iron chains. Si .... . In former-times we would not [j! even have worn chains of flowers. S Women, What Do We Waut? We no longer want to dominate. Wo want to please! The President of the League of the "New Feminists."

IROSE-BLANCHE-MARIE FLEURY. The police tore down those posters I though ft little too late. Many wonien « had read them. They were heard to make observations like these:— 9 "It is shameful!" J "This woman has lost nil her digE I nity!" j "What do they take us for?" 11 "This Rose-Blanohe-Mario is crazy." I Had they, however, observed closely, I they might havo noticed in the groups !& formed before those odd posters some I silent women who did not seem to share tho general'opinion. - , A few days later there was a second poster: League of the "New Feminists." ■Women' You are requested to attend next Sunday, at i p.m., -'.he mass meeting organised at the Gigantic Palace, . Boulevard du 9 Septcmbro. n Speech "'by Rosc-Blanche-Mnrie Fleury, I President, of the League. J This meeting was epic. | The Citizoncss Floury appeared on the | platform. . I Sho was, indeed, very pretty m the I sense given to this word in tho centuries I of masculine tyranny and bad taste. i Sho had impudently rut on a dress, li yes a dress; and, what is more, a lowIn 'nocked dress. Resolved to fly in the face of everything, she even wore jowels (think of it, jewols!). And sho had on the so-callod Louis XV heels. I Hoots greeted her from overy part of J tho hall. ■ ~ , . Tho Citizeness Fleury <-ould not make

herself heard. Only bits of phrases reached tho ear of tho .bashful public: "Tho place' of woman is the home. Our true purposo is to bo cherished and loved. . . • AVo axe living outsido of tho natural law. ... It is high time that we revolt. Nevertheless this first manifestation of the "New Feminists" was a success. No ono doubted it, not even tho Citizeness Floury. . The salons again opened their doors. And yet there was nothing more feudal than o wlon. In the masculine Middle I Ages what did they call a salon ? A pretentious place, ridiculously ornamental with objects of art, paintings, flowers. Flowers! Is there anything more reactionary than flowers? , And lo! (grievous surprisel-womon were taking the incredible initiative of reviving those salons where their mothers had suffered-so much! ..... At tho samo time the converts tried to re-establish homds. They lived as much as possible in the home, wore morning gowns trimmed with lace, accompanied their husbands without minding the sarcasms of the mitlhiude, or the coarse derisions of the Press. ■ The "New Feminism" codified its ideas and its programme as follows:— _ Woman is not man's equal; she is drffent." , . 'AH that renders woman womanly is foministic. ... Marriage is the promised land ot woman, the home is her kingdom. Coquetry is not a weakness, but a duty. 'To please, to love, to console is our supreme mission. All religions have left beauty and charm to their joddesses. The religion of progress alone has disfigured our sex. .The performance of our true .duties makes us.happier than the exercise of our vain rights. ' The hands of the women who, at times, havo ruled the world, were not callous or soiied with ink. With woman, intelligence must be at the order of the heart. To compete with man is to lose. With surprising rapidity "New Femin- » ism" triumphed. From 19G0 the women ■ Deputies solemnly and definitely left the ' legislative halls with the thousand-times repeated cry— "Let's hurry homo! The soup is going . to be Wnt! i Magistrates refused to hold court, un- . der tho pretext that they had to stay at > home to scum off the "pot-ou-feu"; the l Coloneless of tho Bepublican Guard was seen, in a petticoat, promenading her last E little one in tho' Luxemburg Gardens. Coralie Mitouflet, of the French Royal ! Society, exhibited in the salon a paint--3 -ing. entitled, "The Mother of the Gracchi," and President Fromage-ot, after rc--3 signing with eclat, had herself photo--3 graphed in the act of mending a pair of socks.