This is somewhat the inevitable consequence of any presidential speech. When the head of state speaks in front of the cameras, each of his words is analyzed with precision. And criticized, very often. The press conference given by Emmanuel Macron Tuesday January 16, 2024 was no exception. For more than two hours, the President of the Republic discussed numerous aspects of his policy and answered questions from journalists present on site. Between his announcements for school, on energy prices or even on the new “birth leave”, certain comments caused controversy. First his statements on Gérard Depardieu, the actor accused of rape and sexual assault whom he had defended a few weeks earlier, but also its solutions for the fight against infertility and the famous “demographic rearmament” from France. A term borrowed from the military lexical field which has made Internet users, and more particularly feminists, jump.
The “virilist metaphor of war” does not work at all
“The sentence had started well…”wrote Salomé Saqué, on her Instagram account. “Helping people who want to have children is obviously desirablecontinues the journalist and author. But talking about birth rates using the term ‘rearmament’ echoes an authoritarian, conservative imagination, closer to The Scarlet Maid than that of a free society where everyone can dispose of their body as they wish.” And she is far from the only one to have highlighted the problems linked to the choice of the word “rearmament” by Emmanuel Macron. For her part, Fiona Schmidt, also a journalist known for her feminist commitments, was keen to point out that “our wombs are not weapons in the service of the repopulation of France” by using the hashtag #lâcheznouslutere, a reference to the title of his eponymous book. For the author with 78,000 subscribers on Instagram, “to spin the virilist metaphor of war to discuss parenthood, which should be a matter of choice and not a republican duty, is particularly inappropriate”. Especially in view of the current period “where women’s reproductive rights are in decline, in the United States as in all European countries contaminated by populism and the reactionary, misogynistic and racist policies of the far right”.
“Serious concern” in a society where women’s right to control their bodies is constantly called into question
Feminist associations also stepped up following the speech of the Head of State. The National Federation of Information Centers on the Rights of Women and Families has also expressed its “deep concern” regarding the use of the term “demographic rearmament”and to “the implementation of pronatalist policies, profoundly contrary to the autonomy of women, [qui] constitutes a worrying political and social regression”. In turn, the collective Dare feminism! protested, recalling that “our pregnancies are not an adjustment variable for the growth of the nation”.
After decades of fighting for women’s freedom of choice, and the freedom to dispose of their bodies – through contraception or abortion for example – and while the injunction to maternity continues to weigh heavily on those who choose to remain childless, Emmanuel Macron’s words do not go through. Even less from a President who has always proclaimed his desire to make gender inequalities and violence against women “the great cause of his five-year term”.
Sarcasm as a defense is the choice of Valérie Damidot and many others
On social networks, other women preferred to choose humor and sarcasm in reaction to Emmanuel Macron’s statements. This is the case of the host Valérie Damidot in particular, who wrote on his X account (formerly Twitter): “As part of demographic rearmament and in view of the closures of maternity wards, women will be asked to give birth for the nation at home, but training will be given so that they can cut the cord themselves and perform an episiotomy on their own.” Doctoral student Marie Coquille-Chambel, feminist activist and member of #MeTooThéâtre, also demonstrated great irony: “Between the defense of Depardieu and demographic rearmament, it is true that women’s rights are the great cause of Macron’s two five-year terms. Be kids and don’t denounce too much the violence you suffer, eh, you are only stomachs for the nation.” Finally, the historian Mathilde Larrere was amused (or almost) by the return to the old days that she perceived in the presidential speech. “Seriously. The Marseillaise, demographic rearmament, Universal National Service, what is this fucking temporal fault? Get me out of here!”she lamented in turn on X.
Let us emphasize, however, that women are not the only ones to criticize the words and pronatalist policies of Emmanuel Macron. In the columns of Releasethe day after the speech, journalist Jonathan Bouchet-Petersen published a mood post in which he refused to “see the bellies of French women mobilized in the service of preserving our social model”. He also denounces the use of a “imagination which has fueled right-wing and far-right discourse for years”. One thing is certain, the President of the Republic’s press conference did not put an end to the recent controversies… and even rather reinforced them. It remains to be seen whether he will soon speak again to explain himself, at the risk of giving unsatisfactory justifications as he did regarding his support for the presumption of innocence of Gérard Depardieu.