The virility-signalling of French politicians |
Once upon a time Frenchmen regarded themselves as the world’s greatest lovers. These days they think of themselves more as fighters. Sexual partners have been replaced by sparring partners. President Felix Faure famously died while being pleasured by his mistress in 1899, but the blows favoured by today’s male politicians are administered to punchbags. Emmanuel Macron loves to box. His wife, Brigitte, told Paris Match in 2023 that her husband puts on his gloves twice a week for ‘45 minutes of training, warm-up and core-strengthening boxing’.
Macron regularly poses for photos wearing his boxing gloves. In March 2024 he was snapped hitting a punchbag. The more cynical wondered if there hadn’t been some ‘enhancement’ to the president’s bulging biceps. Size matters, after all, particularly among world leaders. Many interpreted the photographs as a message from Macron to Vladimir Putin that he is just as well endowed as the Russian leader.
Néron à l’Elysée, published at the start of this year by journalists Nicolas Domenach and Maurice Szafran, described the Elysée as ‘Macholand’ where ‘women are as rare as oases in the desert’ and Macron and his male minions unwind with boxing, banter and whisky. The president’s showboating hasn’t gone down well among some of his domestic adversaries. A........