Charlie Hebdo in hot water over 'sexist' cartoon of a pregnant Mrs Macron
The Local France - [email protected]
Published: 11 May, 2017 CET.
Updated: Thu 11 May 2017 10:18 CET
Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte, has come in for sexist and ageist abuse in recent weeks and Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine has been accused of adding fuel to the fire.
Brigitte Macron has been the subject of sexist and misogynistic abuse ever since her husband's presidential campaign began, all because she is 24 years older than her husband.
Emmanuel Macron, 39, has spoken of the matter recently, telling Le Parisien newspaper that reports about his relationship amounted to "misogyny".
"If I were 20 years older than my wife, nobody would have thought for a single second that I couldn’t be an intimate partner."
"It’s because she is 20 years older than me that lots of people say, 'This relationship can’t be tenable, it can’t be possible'."
But now that Macron has been voted president, the commentary about his wife haven't stopped - with satirical mag Charlie Hebdo proving to be the latest to join the choir.
This week's front page shows Macron holding the belly of his apparently very pregnant wife.
"He's going to make miracles happen," reads the accompanying text, in the picture which has also been added as Charlie Hebdo's Facebook profile picture.
The caption is not just a reference to Macron's promise to bring France into the 21st century, but apparently also to the notion that his wife is so much older than him that it would be a miracle if she became pregnant.
While the paper's Facebook post about the new cover drew in around 3,500 likes, those on the French Twittersphere weren't so impressed, with many slamming the paper as "sexist".
"Surely you can do better than just saying 'Brigitte is old, LOL'," wrote one user.
"If you'd do the same thing for the guys who have much younger wives then maybe things would actually change a bit," wrote another.
"This is lamentable and misogynist," said a third.
The tweet below reads: "Just more daily sexism about the age of Brigitte Macron."
Le sexisme ordinaire sur l'âge de #BrigiteMacron continue. #CharlieHebdo encore dans le top du gras. https://t.co/IVi2vSUI0s
— JérômeVanRuychevelt (@JeromeVanRuych) May 9, 2017
This tweet says: "The freedom of the press has been combined with bad taste and misogyny this week at Charlie Hebdo. Pitiable."
Liberté de la presse se conjugue avec mauvais goût et mysoginie chez Charlie Hebdo cette semaine. Pitoyable.
— Rémi T@stet (@remtastet) May 9, 2017
It's not just France's social media users that have taken to calling out the sexism. Several news sites have pointed out that the jokes need to stop, with Buzzfeed France writing "We didn't vote for five years of jokes about the age of Macron's wife".
Music megastar Madonna even chimed in on the debate, taking to Instagram after the election to write:
"Congrats to Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron. Fun Fact for Monday is that the first Lady of France is 24 yrs older than her husband and no one in France seems to care about their age difference nor insisted that Brigitte "Act her Age" Vive La France!"
The post garnered almost 100,000 likes.
Charlie Hebdo, meanwhile, is no stranger to controversy. It has drawn ire over front pages featuring cartoons about Down Syndrome, and one about the drowned Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi.
Charlie Hebdo made a name for itself worldwide by choosing to publish cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed, which lead to protests in Muslim countries around the world.
Cherif and Said Kouachi, two Muslim extremists said they were avenging those cartoons when they stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 7th, killing 12 people.
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Brigitte Macron has been the subject of sexist and misogynistic abuse ever since her husband's presidential campaign began, all because she is 24 years older than her husband.
Emmanuel Macron, 39, has spoken of the matter recently, telling Le Parisien newspaper that reports about his relationship amounted to "misogyny".
"If I were 20 years older than my wife, nobody would have thought for a single second that I couldn’t be an intimate partner."
"It’s because she is 20 years older than me that lots of people say, 'This relationship can’t be tenable, it can’t be possible'."
But now that Macron has been voted president, the commentary about his wife haven't stopped - with satirical mag Charlie Hebdo proving to be the latest to join the choir.
This week's front page shows Macron holding the belly of his apparently very pregnant wife.
"He's going to make miracles happen," reads the accompanying text, in the picture which has also been added as Charlie Hebdo's Facebook profile picture.
The caption is not just a reference to Macron's promise to bring France into the 21st century, but apparently also to the notion that his wife is so much older than him that it would be a miracle if she became pregnant.
While the paper's Facebook post about the new cover drew in around 3,500 likes, those on the French Twittersphere weren't so impressed, with many slamming the paper as "sexist".
"Surely you can do better than just saying 'Brigitte is old, LOL'," wrote one user.
"If you'd do the same thing for the guys who have much younger wives then maybe things would actually change a bit," wrote another.
"This is lamentable and misogynist," said a third.
The tweet below reads: "Just more daily sexism about the age of Brigitte Macron."
Le sexisme ordinaire sur l'âge de #BrigiteMacron continue. #CharlieHebdo encore dans le top du gras. https://t.co/IVi2vSUI0s
— JérômeVanRuychevelt (@JeromeVanRuych) May 9, 2017
This tweet says: "The freedom of the press has been combined with bad taste and misogyny this week at Charlie Hebdo. Pitiable."
Liberté de la presse se conjugue avec mauvais goût et mysoginie chez Charlie Hebdo cette semaine. Pitoyable.
— Rémi T@stet (@remtastet) May 9, 2017
It's not just France's social media users that have taken to calling out the sexism. Several news sites have pointed out that the jokes need to stop, with Buzzfeed France writing "We didn't vote for five years of jokes about the age of Macron's wife".
Music megastar Madonna even chimed in on the debate, taking to Instagram after the election to write:
"Congrats to Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron. Fun Fact for Monday is that the first Lady of France is 24 yrs older than her husband and no one in France seems to care about their age difference nor insisted that Brigitte "Act her Age" Vive La France!"
The post garnered almost 100,000 likes.
Charlie Hebdo, meanwhile, is no stranger to controversy. It has drawn ire over front pages featuring cartoons about Down Syndrome, and one about the drowned Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi.
Charlie Hebdo made a name for itself worldwide by choosing to publish cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammed, which lead to protests in Muslim countries around the world.
Cherif and Said Kouachi, two Muslim extremists said they were avenging those cartoons when they stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo on January 7th, killing 12 people.
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