Pas Une Pute

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While in France I noticed this poster was up pretty much everywhere. The text reads "Quand un petit garçon grandit, il devient un homme / Quand une petite fille grandit, elle devient une femme, pas une pute". My limited French allowed me to translate the first two lines of the text "when a little boy grows up he becomes a man / when a little girl grows up she becomes a woman" but I couldn't work out the last line. Could there be a huge failing in the French Sex Education department? Are they trying to correct false ideas about what girls grow into? "When a little girl grows up she becomes a woman, not a pony"? "When a little girl grows up she becomes a woman, not a wicked witch"? "When a little girl grows up she becomes a woman, not a carrier of the dreaded cooties disease"? I guessed it was something to do with sexual inequallity / discrimination, something along the lines of "not a mother" or "not a servant", but I wasn't sure1. Anyway I get back home and it's still bugging me so I look it up on some French - English translation site. in English? "When a little girl grows up she becomes a woman, Not A Whore" On every billboard in Paris.

Update


The text in the top right corner says "Ni Putes, Ni Soumises", which apparently translates something like "Neither a bitch/slag nor a registered prostitute". It's the name of a pressure group that's trying to deal with negative sexual stereotypes in certain communities. If your French is up to it you can read more on their website.

Footnotes


1: I was going to text a young person I know who's doing French in Higher Education but having since found out what the word meant I'm kinda glad I didn't.

There are 13 expressions of opinion about what was written.
Mark wrote this at 00:40, Tue, 05/04/05, Link
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Your Comments

Mr.Moony

I was expecting this to be a blog on ur poker winnings!

Written by Mr.Moony at 10:02, Wed, 06/04/05

Matthew

Did you also translate the text in the top right?

Written by Matthew at 11:43, Wed, 06/04/05

Matthew

Oh, and you're going to get some interesting hits from Google searches now...

Written by Matthew at 11:44, Wed, 06/04/05

Sparticus

"Not Whores Or Submits". Oh I love translation websites

Written by Sparticus at 12:17, Wed, 06/04/05

David

i hate submits...

Written by David at 15:11, Wed, 06/04/05

Wood

It's a serious, serious issue in France - rape was this massive problem in the 90s, and hardly ever got reported, because there's this attitude in French pop culture, which is only know being challenged, that every girl ever is gagging for it.

I read a ways back about this French woman who'd been gang-raped who wrote this book about her experience and started being an advocate for women's rights (sadly, I forget her name).

It's nice to see that someone's trying to do something about it. France has a bad press in terms of social inequalities (banning religious symbols and all) and it's nice to see somebody doing something positive.

Written by Wood at 19:17, Thu, 07/04/05

lucy

This publicity campaign is important! It's trying to deal with a serious ongoing problem in France, to do with gang rapes. This has been an issue for quite a few years - groups of teenage boys have been raping girls their own age or younger, much younger, and in their own defence they're arguing that the girls are whores - "putes". I really can't be bothered to explain in any detail why these boys think that way here, but unfortunately the French state does now find itself in the position of having to explain to its citizens that girls aren't objects. Sad but true? Don't knock it if it works!

Written by lucy at 00:02, Sun, 10/04/05

Mr.Moony

French porn is always good!

Written by Mr.Moony at 15:37, Sun, 10/04/05

Sparticus

I'm not knocking it, I'm just suprised that they have the word WHORE written all over posters all over France. To my easily shocked English mind it was quite uh... shocking.

Written by Sparticus at 07:55, Mon, 11/04/05

the real Phil Brown

I say we re-introduce the word 'harlot' back into common useage. Sounds so much more sophisticated. Not that I agree with prostitution at all, of course. Shutting up.

Written by the real Phil Brown at 16:01, Mon, 11/04/05

Mr.Moony

What exactly happened to the fake phil brown?

Written by Mr.Moony at 14:24, Tue, 12/04/05

the real Phil Brown

He assumed my identity for a short space of time, but then died, and was re-generated as the new Dr Who. He was also "The artist formerly known as Phil Brown" at one point, I think...
But those are just vague memories now.

Written by the real Phil Brown at 15:25, Tue, 12/04/05

Mr.Moony

I used to trip on Acid Too!!!

Written by Mr.Moony at 22:22, Tue, 12/04/05

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