This Tuesday, February 2, 2021, in the National Assembly and while the deputy Mathilde Panot is about to speak, the word "fishmonger" is heard. A sexist remark that absolutely does not pass.
"Crazy woman", "fishmonger"… These are the words which reasoned in the National Assembly this Tuesday, February 2, 2021. Insults of a misogynistic nature (accusations of hysteria, vulgarity …) addressed to Mathilde Panot, elected of La France insoumise du Val-de- Marl. And from Pierre Henriet, LREM deputy for Vendée. This insult does not pass for Mathilde Panot. This is why, on Wednesday February 3, 2021, she called on the President of the National Assembly Richard Ferrand to "apologies" and an "sanction" against Pierre Henriet. She also told AFP that she received the support of several colleagues.
In the national assembly, sexist insults are common
What Mathilde Panot suffered is not an isolated case. In 2016, Cécile Duflot, at the time Minister of Housing and Territorial Equality, received insults at the National Assembly because she was wearing a floral dress: "I recall that there had been bleating during a speech by the deputy Alice Thourot (LaREM) or that my colleagues Clémentine Autain (LFI) and Elsa Faucillon (PCF) had been treated as 'little assholes' by MEP Meyer Habib (UDI) ", Mathilde Panot also reminds AFP. So this is not a personal matter. For the elected representative of Val-de-Marne, sexist behavior is common in the National Assembly and must absolutely stop: "It is our institution that must not let this go. There is too much sexism in the National Assembly", she insists.
Pierre Henriet, author of these insults, does not apologize
Vendée MP Pierre Henriet, author of insults against Mathilde Panot, spoke on Twitter following the affair. But the politician did not apologize for all that. Rather, he preferred to justify his statements: "Mathilde Panot spends her time shouting in the rostrum and cutting the floor. I was exasperated and my words are in no way an insult even less sexist, it is an expression to denounce her behavior as I also do for his male colleagues ". At no time does the Vendée deputy seem to question his behavior. His tweet speaks volumes about the systemic sexism that absolutely must end in the National Assembly, as in society as a whole.