French Women

WHEN Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president of France last week, he jumped into a group hug with his family and close supporters. But one key person was absent from the huddle: his wife. Cecilia Sarkozy's no-show (she did appear at a restaurant a few hours later) was the latest chapter in the president-elect's marital saga, involving evidence of infidelity on both sides. Two summers ago, Cecilia took a marital hiatus and was photographed with another man in Paris and New York.

A little more than a year has passed since the publication of Amy Chua's "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" - the paroxysm-inducing guide to raising better children through belittlement, intimidation and tyrannical music practice - and already we have version 2.0. Pamela Druckerman's "Bringing Up Bébé" alleges that it's the French who could teach indulgent, over-scheduling, helicoptering American parents a thing or two about rearing les enfants...

Europeans think Italian men and French women are the most seductive in the world, but Americans mostly have eyes for other Americans, according to poll results published Saturday. A survey published in Madame Figaro magazine shows that Europeans rank Italian, French and Spanish men, in that order, as the world's best seducers and French, then Italian, then Swedish women as the most seductive.

What's in a title? Plenty, according to French feminists who have persuaded a town to drop the honorific "mademoiselle" on official forms. From now on, the women of Cesson-Sevigne, population 16,000, will be addressed as "madame" regardless of age or marital status. "Mademoiselle," the Gallic form of "miss," is normally used for young, unmarried women, thus, feminists say, openly declaring them either available or unwanted in a way that men, always referred to as "monsieur," are not. A French form of "ms. " would solve the problem, but there you go.… Exactly when a woman reaches the age when she becomes a "madame," married or otherwise, is not only a matter of debate but a social minefield; women of a certain age will often ask themselves whether the waiter who calls them "mademoiselle" is being gallant or sarcastic.

"Sexual intercourse began in 1963," the poet Philip Larkin said of the revolution that liberated women and changed the world. And nowhere was that revolution more on display, literally, than on the beaches of the French Riviera, where the first bare breasts appeared just a year later. Scandale ! Some local mayors prohibited it, and the Interior Ministry declared it illegal. But as anyone who has visited a French beach in the last 40 years will know, public opinion was stronger than the bureaucrats' protests.

When it was over, after Jennifer Capriati defeated Mary Pierce, 6-4, 6-3, in the fourth round of the French Open on Monday, their fathers shook hands. Many among the 12,000 spectators at Center Court were expecting something more exciting. But Stefano Capriati and Jim Pierce, excitable fathers who coach their teen-age daughters, were on their best behavior. That left the daughters, whose lives have been as public as a TV sitcom, to bang away for 1 hour 24 minutes.

On Jan. 24, 1943, 230 French women who had been arrested for resistance activities were put on a train at Compiegne, outside Paris, and sent to Auschwitz. The youngest had just celebrated her 17th birthday; the oldest was 67. They were teachers and seamstresses, students and farmers' wives; there was a doctor, a dentist and several editors and chemists. They were to be a lesson to other would-be troublemakers. The women were not Jewish, so they were not sent immediately to be gassed.

American women may drop billions to look fabulous, but someone else holds the title to the ultimate in allure: the French woman. Is it any coincidence that the French coined the term femme fatale ? You know the type, a woman who's impossibly svelte and chic, with a certain aloofness and an aura suggesting that she knows something we don't about sexuality and seduction, a woman with that elusive quality known as je ne sais quoi. So is there truth to the stereotype? Yes and no. The mysterious creature people find so fascinating is partly real and partly steeped in myth, forged by icons such as Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot, says Debra Ollivier, author of the new book "What French Women Know: About Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind."

She shied away from the term "sexual harassment," preferring "seductive pressure. " "Women can't talk about the seductive pressure that men put on women, because it is a taboo in France," said the woman, pausing between sentences. A former company manager, she, perhaps tellingly, wished to remain anonymous. "As women managing directors, we've all been confronted with it. " As she spoke, she began to worry that her comments would create "generalizations" about France. She was only one person, and was sorry to be wasting a reporter's time, she added, with a tight smile.

A little more than a year has passed since the publication of Amy Chua's "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" - the paroxysm-inducing guide to raising better children through belittlement, intimidation and tyrannical music practice - and already we have version 2.0. Pamela Druckerman's "Bringing Up Bébé" alleges that it's the French who could teach indulgent, over-scheduling, helicoptering American parents a thing or two about rearing les enfants...

  The French government has advised about 30,000 women to remove possibly defective breast implants, but is saying there is no proof they pose a cancer risk. The implants, manufactured by French company Poly Implants Protheses, or PIP, contained nonmedical industrial silicone. Women with these implants have been told by the government to consider consulting their surgeons. Besides the 30,000 women in France, 40,000 women in Britain are thought to be affected, as well as tens of thousands more around the world.

On Jan. 24, 1943, 230 French women who had been arrested for resistance activities were put on a train at Compiegne, outside Paris, and sent to Auschwitz. The youngest had just celebrated her 17th birthday; the oldest was 67. They were teachers and seamstresses, students and farmers' wives; there was a doctor, a dentist and several editors and chemists. They were to be a lesson to other would-be troublemakers. The women were not Jewish, so they were not sent immediately to be gassed.

She shied away from the term "sexual harassment," preferring "seductive pressure. " "Women can't talk about the seductive pressure that men put on women, because it is a taboo in France," said the woman, pausing between sentences. A former company manager, she, perhaps tellingly, wished to remain anonymous. "As women managing directors, we've all been confronted with it. " As she spoke, she began to worry that her comments would create "generalizations" about France. She was only one person, and was sorry to be wasting a reporter's time, she added, with a tight smile.

Her opponent was the defending champion whose childhood dream had always been to win the French Open. She was the underdog who never saw the tournament on TV as a girl in China and never thought she'd get far on the red clay of Roland Garros. But it was Li Na who fell on her back in triumph Saturday when Francesca Schiavone's final ball floated out. Nearly two hours of heavy hitting gave Li a 6-4, 7-6 (0) victory and made her the only tennis player, man or woman, from Asia to take home a Grand Slam title.

"Sexual intercourse began in 1963," the poet Philip Larkin said of the revolution that liberated women and changed the world. And nowhere was that revolution more on display, literally, than on the beaches of the French Riviera, where the first bare breasts appeared just a year later. Scandale ! Some local mayors prohibited it, and the Interior Ministry declared it illegal. But as anyone who has visited a French beach in the last 40 years will know, public opinion was stronger than the bureaucrats' protests.

American women may drop billions to look fabulous, but someone else holds the title to the ultimate in allure: the French woman. Is it any coincidence that the French coined the term femme fatale ? You know the type, a woman who's impossibly svelte and chic, with a certain aloofness and an aura suggesting that she knows something we don't about sexuality and seduction, a woman with that elusive quality known as je ne sais quoi. So is there truth to the stereotype? Yes and no. The mysterious creature people find so fascinating is partly real and partly steeped in myth, forged by icons such as Catherine Deneuve and Brigitte Bardot, says Debra Ollivier, author of the new book "What French Women Know: About Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind."

Shavelson's article was a real slur against women, and French women in particular. My girlfriend is French, and I have had business dealings in France and have spent considerable time there. Imagine how surprised both of us were to read the terribly crude, cheap jokes about breast size. How can such obviously false, sexist writing ("I insisted that he was used to French women, all of whom have small bosoms") get into the paper? Where was the editor? Talking about women's breasts on a scale of 1 to 10 is something that even magazines like Playboy no longer do. This author is one The Times could do without.

  The French government has advised about 30,000 women to remove possibly defective breast implants, but is saying there is no proof they pose a cancer risk. The implants, manufactured by French company Poly Implants Protheses, or PIP, contained nonmedical industrial silicone. Women with these implants have been told by the government to consider consulting their surgeons. Besides the 30,000 women in France, 40,000 women in Britain are thought to be affected, as well as tens of thousands more around the world.

Seemingly everybody but the chipper woman at the sandwich stand selling jambon et fromage has a chance to win this French Open women's singles title, and we shouldn't necessarily rule out the chipper woman at the sandwich stand selling jambon et fromage. No. 1-ranked Dinara Safina could win. Nos. 2 and 3, Serena or Venus Williams, could win. Onrushing Victoria Azarenka or Caroline Wozniacki could win. Long-craving No. 5 Jelena Jankovic could win. Somebody else could win.

WHEN Nicolas Sarkozy was elected president of France last week, he jumped into a group hug with his family and close supporters. But one key person was absent from the huddle: his wife. Cecilia Sarkozy's no-show (she did appear at a restaurant a few hours later) was the latest chapter in the president-elect's marital saga, involving evidence of infidelity on both sides. Two summers ago, Cecilia took a marital hiatus and was photographed with another man in Paris and New York.