December 21, 2016

In a northeastern suburb of Paris: "The women are curtly informed this is a cafe for men."

"One of the women asks a customer what his wife or cousin would do if they came into the cafe in search of a drink. They wouldn’t, he replied. They’re at home. The other woman reminds the men that they’re in France. No, they retort, here it’s the ‘Bled’, a word of North African origin meaning a small village in the sticks. On leaving the bar the two women explain to the camera that in the last decade Islam in France has become a ‘penal code’ with an increasing list of interdictions, many aimed at subjugating women. As the pair talk a car full of men pulls up. The occupants say nothing; their gaze does the talking. Clearly intimidated, the women stop the interview. In the same report the journalist experiences similar misogyny in parts of Lyon, with one young mother telling the camera as she pushes a pram that she dresses ‘sombrely’ and forgoes wearing make-up when she goes out. Why? asked the journalist. ‘We’re scared,’ says the mother."

From an article in The Spectator about how Marine Le Pen will appeal to Frenchwomen in her presidential campaign.

70 comments:

Humperdink said...

Well you could call this cafe a "safe haven" for the embattled refugees. Sure beats a safe haven in their country of origin.

MayBee said...

Yeah, but let's make the hijab a symbol of empowerment.

AllenS said...

Islam is incompatible with Western Civilization.

John henry said...

Women are allowed women only environments. Clubs, gymns, societies, sports teams other stuff.

Why can't men have safe spaces free of women?

In the 60's McSorleys was on my walk home and I would often stop for dinner there and 2 pints of ale ("Today only: 1 pint 30 cents, 2 pints 35 cents." the sign looked like it had been there 50years)

McSorelys was famously men only until the 1970s. Great place to have dinner in peace and read the papers.

Owned by a woman.

John Henry

Humperdink said...

Vocational training for these poor souls might might be a plus. Career enhancements, you might say.

I can think of a few: OTR truck driver training, explosive demolition, meat cutting.

John henry said...

Re sports, I guess that is changing. Now men pretending to be women are invading women's sports.

Good.

Though, since women can invade men's sports as women, men should be able to play womens sports, as men.

John Henry

Tarrou said...

I am continually amazed by how pathetically the left has rolled over for radical islam. They have ceded the field on the only major issue of foreign policy, and then advocated for importing the problem until it is now the major domestic policy issue! Who thought this up? Who decided "hey, we need to import a few million homicidal seventh-century barbarians, turn them loose on our populace, and then accuse anyone who notices the resulting increase in violence a racist!"? The left could not have delegitimized themselves faster if they tried.

traditionalguy said...

@Tarrou...How the left became Islam insanity supporters is in one word: Obama.

Brando said...

I don't really care what someone wants to do with their own café. When they start encroaching on the rights of others, that's when we have a problem.

As John Henry above notes, we can have safe spaces for women--why not safe spaces for just men? If that's a bit too much discrimination for you and you want everything totally equal, then bring down all the barriers, let everyone use every bathroom and be done with it.

Paco Wové said...

"I am continually amazed by how pathetically the left has rolled over for radical islam."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, etc." The left wants to undermine the foundations of the West; Islam wants to undermine the foundations of the West; win-win! Unintended consequences purely unintentional.

It's basic human nature. John Henry is engaging in the practice in this thread ("the enemy of feminism is my friend").

sparrow said...

This is way beyond Obama: it predates him and this France. Islam is the instrument the death cult of the left has chosen for it's suicide.

whitney said...

That's the point. Be scared or submit. These attacks will continue until the native population submits, voluntarily or involuntarily. Islam is coercion.
The problem with this is we can all see that in areas or countries were it's near 100% Muslim it's much, much worse. But there is no appeasement. It's fight, die or submit.

virgil xenophon said...

Allen S/

Clearly you need an attitude adjustment and hauled off to the re-education camps. :)

(And don't think the're aren't multi-culti PC types pining away for just such things)

John henry said...

Blogger Paco Wové said...


It's basic human nature. John Henry is engaging in the practice in this thread ("the enemy of feminism is my friend").

I didn't say that and would not go that far. the enemy of extreme feminisn is my friend though.

Equal rights for women imply equal rights for men.

John Henry

Sydney said...

In the same report the journalist experiences similar misogyny in parts of Lyon, with one young mother telling the camera as she pushes a pram that she dresses ‘sombrely’ and forgoes wearing make-up when she goes out. Why? asked the journalist. ‘We’re scared,’ says the mother."

So some parts of France are essentially Islamic now.

MaxedOutMama said...

Brando - there's nothing wrong with private clubs, etc. But when this stuff filters out to the streets, it is a problem.

This explains a lot about voting patterns in France.

JAORE said...

No report on whether blond, blue eyed men wearing crosses would have been welcomed at that dining spot.

But I have my suspicions.

AllenS said...

They can try and haul me off to the reeducation camps, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Big Mike said...

There are estimated to be 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, and in 2014 Obama's DHS reportedly bought 1.6 billion rounds of ammo. Coincidence???

Brando said...

"Brando - there's nothing wrong with private clubs, etc. But when this stuff filters out to the streets, it is a problem."

Yeah, its' the filtering out--where it spills into affecting everyone else--that becomes the problem.

Paco Wové said...

"the enemy of extreme feminis[m] is my friend though."

This is where I think you're wrong. Sometimes the enemy of your enemy is way worse than your enemy.

traditionalguy said...

Islam is a Miltary Manual issued to members of a. Piracy Army that exists to attak weaker groups, steal their stuff and execute the men who do not join up as Pirates on the spot. That's all it is. Women are camp follower slaves of the Warriors. Children are useful disguise weapons.

Then and only then do they add a Religion copied from monotheism Judaism laws, but rejecting the mercy and love in Jesus as Son of God sect. Mercy and love interferes with Piracy. Islam justifies the Pirate Army as being a moon god's will.

cacimbo said...

This same stuff is happening here in the USA. Bayridge Brooklyn was known for its nightlife 30 years ago, today it is referred to as Beirut and men only cafes are not hard to find. Male worshippers overflow from Mosques and kneel in prayer blocking sidewalks. If a female dares to walk through they spit on her. Creatures dressed head to toe in black, their eyes only seen through small slits in the fabric walk the streets like specters of death. I have never visited Dearborn MI, but videos of Christians physically pushed out of street fairs for daring to hand out religious pamphlets are easy to find. Funny how the media never go to a Muslim bakery when they are looking to highlight a business for being anti-gay.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

John Henry @6:13 AM and Brando @6:39 AM:

Had a nice big bowl of the wheaties of obtuseness this morning, the both of you?

"Here, let me take this one issue that I can't think about too deeply because it's really about stuff well outside the range of what my sperg political philosophy can handle, and cram it into this other issue, which it can. There, that's better."

Jason said...

Remove kabob.

Anonymous said...

Cacimbo Cacimbo: This same stuff is happening here in the USA. Bayridge Brooklyn was known for its nightlife 30 years ago, today it is referred to as Beirut and men only cafes are not hard to find. Male worshippers overflow from Mosques and kneel in prayer blocking sidewalks. If a female dares to walk through they spit on her. Creatures dressed head to toe in black, their eyes only seen through small slits in the fabric walk the streets like specters of death.

Such impiety against Teh Diversi-tay and Teh Vibrancy! This is no different from your grandmother wearing a veil to church or your grandfather hanging out in male social spaces or belonging to a men's club. Now, I remember that women were always greeted courteously and offered a "ladies drink" if for some reason they had to venture into the de facto men's club that was our neighborhood bar, but hey, different strokes for different folks - that was our culture, and spitting is theirs. It's all good.

Fernandinande said...

Diversity™ is more than taco bowls.

Anglelyne said...
John Henry @6:13 AM and Brando @6:39 AM:
Had a nice big bowl of the wheaties of obtuseness this morning, the both of you?


Sounds like you sure did.

mockturtle said...

The article strains at a gnat and swallows a camel. The issue in toto is that the culture, itself, is under attack as are the very lives of native Europeans.

Michael K said...

How the left became Islam insanity supporters is in one word: Obama

No, France is different in this as they tried to pass themselves off as "Musselmen" back in the 1920s when they were trying to digest Syria and Lebanon. Algeria was also considered part of "Metropolitan France."

The more recent embrace of Islam in Germany and Britain has two sources. The Germans decided they needed more workers and imported Turks the past 50 years, I suppose this made the topic of importing the recent "migrants" less controversial since they had already put the toe in the water.

In Britain there were two threads. One was The Empire which had passed out second class passports to Hong Kong Chinese and Pakistanis. Labour then decided to use this concept to import more Labour voters when Blair was PM. The Democrats have the same idea about Mexicans. Many British are now emigrating to Canada and Australia, which turns the concept on its head. The NHS is losing thousands of young doctors that way.

walter said...

Lyon was weird even 15 years ago. I did some solo traveling in France and the vibe there had me cutting my visit there and heading off to the much more welcoming Grenoble.

Ambrose said...

Forget women in the cafe, if you really want to annoy them, just order in English, and speak more loudly if at first they pretend to not understand.

Anonymous said...

Fernandinande: Sounds like you sure did.

I'd like to think that you're pointing out that I've missed the subtle pertinence to this issue of Brando's and John's libertarian bromides. If so, please enlighten me. But since the comment directly follows another one of mine and is preceded by the observation that "[d]iversity™ is more than taco bowls", I'm left with the impression that the sperg is sparing no one this morning, and you're responding obtusely to my sarcastic comment about granny's church veil.

mikee said...

There are cantinas in south Texas and northern Mexico, patronized exclusively by Spanish speaking men, where pretty much the same rules apply. No women allowed.

bagoh20 said...

So a men-only establishment is an affront to western civilization? When did this happen? I remember it as a fixture before institutional feminism.

bagoh20 said...

Can Jews have their own places? How about Blacks, women, gays? Because, they all do, and always have.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

I'd like to think that you're pointing out that I've missed the subtle pertinence to this issue of Brando's and John's libertarian bromides.

I saw a line on another blog, referring to the "managerial class," about them seeing people as interchangeable units. That they think about people the way normal people think about furniture.

I think Libertarians can fall into that too. People are not Homo Economicus. They have interests beyond maximizing the economic utility of every interaction.

Michael K said...

There were lots of laws about women in places serving alcohol.

In 1959, Washington state had laws that women could not be at a bar or in a room with a bar,

Many places had a divider between the bar and a room of table sand chairs.

Women did often have hats with veils but they were rudimentary and a style, not a requirement.

There were lots of cultural rules that were not laws. Most of that is gone as destruction of the western culture is now being followed by the imposition of an alien culture.

gspencer said...

"As the pair talk a car full of men pulls up. The occupants say nothing; their gaze does the talking."

"We're scared."

AA, I appreciate your bringing to light, with these postings, the severity, the cruelty, the knee-jerk use of force or threats of force by Muslims to anything that might impair the advance of Islam. This is as dangerous an ideology as are all the other ---isms such as communism, Nazism, et alia.

If it suits your thinking, more of these sort of postings will be helpful. The West is woefully under-educated or mis-educated on the true nature of Islam.

Oso Negro said...

I'm telling you, when the French ditch the Left and turn on the immigrants, watch out! Unlike Americans, Germans, English, or Canadians, they actually love their traditional culture.

Gahrie said...

Where are the French men? Where are the German men?

tim in vermont said...

At least they are authentic. Isn't that everything?

Rick said...

The modern French have lived their lives believing they were fighting American cultural hegemony. They're going to find out they've been misfocused but it's going to be too late do do anything about it except move here.

Where were all the Muslims who are just like us except with a different word for god? I'm reliably informed these constitute 99.99% of Muslims so you'd think some must have been around.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Many places had a divider between the bar and a room of table sand chairs

I went to Europe in 1970 with a girlfriend and one of the places we went to was Ireland because we were both of Irish descent. In the cities, Dublin, it was all swinging mod. Night clubs were the rocking place to go....although many at that time were members or guests only. Coming from San Francisco, we were used to being able to go clubbing or enter any bar that we felt comfortable. Two young California gals having a good time.

We went to some of the smaller rural towns, looking for family connections, and decided to waltz on into a local pub for a pint and ask about the area. Walking into the pub, sat down at the bar and were greeted with astounded and offended stares by the men...dead silence. Unknowing....we were breaking a huge taboo. The women had their OWN entrance to the pub and had a separate, smaller area where they were served by pints being shoved through a little opening like a drive through window.

Once we started speaking it was obvious that we weren't Irish. The bartender kindly explained the rules and we were surprised and said we didn't know that we were visiting from America....San Francisco in particular. Then we were interesting instead of being rude pushy biatches "Ooooooh.....do you know my cousin/uncle/brother [name] he moved to SF. He works as a plasterer/carpenter/police officer etc" Aaaand Funny enough...we DID know a couple of those guys because my friend and I were performers in a music group that did Irish music in some of the Irish bars in the City. The bars were home away from home for a lot of those guys and a rather close knit group at the time.

We got to sit in the main part of the bar for a few pints before we left to catch the train!!!! Probably the first females for a very long time to have that privilege. It wasn't a rule or law, just a custom. I bet it isn't that way anymore.

France has gone backwards instead of forward by allowing these retrograde losers to enter their country and dictate to the population. Sad (to paraphrase Trump)

n.n said...

They could hold a transgender Pride Parade featuring a salamander... female SlutWalk, while carrying Muhammad in Urine. That would get their attention. They could, but they won't.

They could hold an abortion rite full of decapitation and dismemberment to put the fear of female chauvinism into the sons of women and sperm donors.

Connie said...

Blogger Michael K said...
There were lots of laws about women in places serving alcohol.

In 1959, Washington state had laws that women could not be at a bar or in a room with a bar,

Many places had a divider between the bar and a room of table sand chairs.

Women did often have hats with veils but they were rudimentary and a style, not a requirement.

There were lots of cultural rules that were not laws. Most of that is gone as destruction of the western culture is now being followed by the imposition of an alien culture.


Isn't this the point? Western culture evolved in these areas, in large measure at the pushing from feminists. It makes it all the more pathetic the refusal of those who fought for these changes to our society to complain about the imposition of a harsher and less forgiving set of islamic societal norms.

Anonymous said...

bagoh20: So a men-only establishment is an affront to western civilization? When did this happen? I remember it as a fixture before institutional feminism.

As mockturtle astutely points out above, "[t]he article strains at a gnat and swallows a camel. The issue in toto is that the culture, itself, is under attack as are the very lives of native Europeans."

Traditional (and yes, contemporary) native French culture had (and does have) "men-only" spaces. France has annoying feminists and other assorted egalitarian ideologues, just like the rest of us. But the point is that trying to frame the issue of Islam eroding Western women's traditional "freedom of public spaces" as an argument among Westerners and Western ideas (feminism, freedom of association) is just wanking at this point - whether it comes from feminists or anti-feminists. (Apparently (intellectual) wanking doesn't make you go blind, intellectual wanking is what you're reduced to when you're already deaf, dumb, and blind.)

Jupiter said...

Traditionalguy has described Islam quite well. I will only add that there are lots of other groups with a very similar ethos. Hell's Angels. Crips. The Mafia. Bloods. It is a pathology to which human society is vulnerable.

The disease is a gangster ethos, attractive to violent young men with no useful skills. It makes a virtue of their violence, and allows them to prey upon those outside the gang with impunity as long as they serve and obey the leaders of the gang. It is essentially a throwback to the worldview of hunter-gatherer tribes, and emotionally viable for that very reason. Young civilizations know how to deal with predatory tribesmen. Ours apparently does not.

buwaya said...

DBQ, good story, well written.

Michael K said...

"Western culture evolved in these areas, in large measure at the pushing from feminists."

I think it began before "Feminism" but they both came from a desire to reduce the load of culture on Baby Boomers.

It's probably hard to believe but Washington state came very close to banning the sale of alcohol completely. The liquor industry came up with an elegant compromise. Liquor sales in Washington are in state run stores and the profits go to the UW medical school. The "Blue Laws" were still in force when I was there but were weakening. Bars had to close at midnight Saturday and were closed on Sunday, Private clubs took over after midnight and there were several in Spokane. One was called the "Early Birds Club" and was in a big hotel. In Coer d'Alene it was "The Athletic Round Table" and we all hung out there,

I think the Baby Boomers revolting against parents and everything they supported began it all. Feminism began as a revolt against mothers and housewives.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Crusades man, Crusades.

All y'all stay the Hell off that damn horse of yours, which ain't even that high by the way.

Jupiter said...

gspencer said...

"If it suits your thinking, more of these sort of postings will be helpful. The West is woefully under-educated or mis-educated on the true nature of Islam."

You apparently imagine that we have freedom of speech here in the US. Do you remember the young woman who invented "Everyone Draw Muhammad Day"? The idea was to show the Muslims that we are not afraid of them. When her name became public, the FBI advised her to go into hiding. Which she did, and there she remains. Because, in fact, with rare exceptions, of which I am surely not one, we *are* afraid of them. And will be until we make them afraid of us.

If you want to know who rules you, ask whom you may not criticize. Ask Charlie Hebdo, or what's left of them.

Jupiter said...

Every Western politician or writer who has dared to publicly criticize Islam has paid a very steep price. Most are under 24/7 guard. If they have families, they hardly ever see them, and must constantly worry that they will be attacked. Meanwhile, the Muzzies who call for their deaths raise two or three families, at taxpayer expense.

Ron Winkleheimer said...

I bet it isn't that way anymore.

I was in Ireland a couple of years ago (2009 I think) and you are correct. Women come in any door they want. And when you ask why there is an area in every pub closed off from the rest of the pub you are told that is where women used to have to sit.

Ann Althouse said...

I remember seeing American bars with a sign "ladies entrance."

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Gee, it's almost like there are virtual "no-go" zones in European countries, huh? Why didn't anyone warn us!

There's culture, and there's the law. It's silly to import large numbers of people who don't share your culture and don't want to assimilate into your culture and say "it's fine, they still have to follow our law."

But it doesn't matter--sticking up for one's own culture & values is intolerably racist. Well, when the culture & values in question are those favored by (dun dun duhhhnnn) western-type white people. This is known.

Gahrie said...

I remember seeing American bars with a sign "ladies entrance."

Wow!

Didn't they realize the proper term is "womyn's"?

n.n said...

Ladies entrance. Ladies' facilities. Ladies' night. Ladies' clubs. Sometimes it's discrimination, while other times it's privilege, and other times it's a social relief valve.

mikee said...

There were blue laws in Texas when I was a grad student at A&M in the early 1980s. Only food items could be bought at groceries before noon. One Sunday morning I was in the checkout line behind a mother with a screaming toddler in a cart holding only a package of Pampers.

The teen aged clerk started to explain about the laws, food only before noon, and the woman cut him off with, "It IS food. And if you don't sell it to me, right now, you're the one gonna eat the whole package."

He rang her up, and off she went. Laws are for the benefit of society. When that is not the case, ignore the laws.

mikee said...

There were blue laws in Texas when I was a grad student at A&M in the early 1980s. Only food items could be bought at groceries before noon. One Sunday morning I was in the checkout line behind a mother with a screaming toddler in a cart holding only a package of Pampers.

The teen aged clerk started to explain about the laws, food only before noon, and the woman cut him off with, "It IS food. And if you don't sell it to me, right now, you're the one gonna eat the whole package."

He rang her up, and off she went. Laws are for the benefit of society. When that is not the case, ignore the laws.

JAORE said...

The article strains at a gnat and swallows a camel. The issue in toto is that the culture, itself, is under attack as are the very lives of native Europeans.

Yep hence my comment about blond men.

Though women are the focus of the article, the entirety of traditional French culture is unwelcome in certain parts of their own country.

There are more and more parts of America trending that way.

John henry said...

You're OK, Angelyne, with allowing women to self segregate?

Are you OK with men self segregating too?

If not, does this make you in favor of gender inequality?

John Henry

Big Mike said...

I remember seeing American bars with a sign "ladies entrance."

And you went in the front door because you are no lady?

It's an old joke and I thank you for reminding me of it.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Big Mike said...
There are estimated to be 1.6 billion Muslims in the world, and in 2014 Obama's DHS reportedly bought 1.6 billion rounds of ammo. Coincidence???

12/21/16, 7:00 AM

I dunno...who's buying them the 1.6 billion zip guns, bang sticks, and Derringers?

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, you remind me of an Air Farce joke from the Vietnam War. A lieutenant (not necessarily a bad lieutenant, mind you) was showing off his fighter jet at an airshow and he let his girlfriend of the moment climb up a ladder to look into the cockpit. Just then a providential gust of wind blew her skirt up above her waist and as she pulled it down she could see the lieutenant looking up and grinning ear to ear.

"Why Lieutenant! You may be an officer but I can see that you're no gentleman!"

"That's okay, Honey. From what I can see you're not a gentleman either."

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

John Henry: You're OK, Angelyne, with allowing women to self segregate?

Are you OK with men self segregating too?

If not, does this make you in favor of gender inequality?


I have a lot of opinions about a lot of things, John. Get back to me when when the subject is the ongoing intra-Westerner dispute about sex-segregation, feminist hypocrisy, egalitarianism, etc., and not the rather larger and more existentially pressing issue at hand here. Which most everybody here but the usual spergatarian suspects seems to have grasped immediately.

I'd also bet most of the non-sperg regulars around here would already know the answers to your questions without having to ask me, 'cause, ya know, I have been posting around here for a while, I'm a known entity, and...they're not fucking spergs. But hey, in the spirit of the season, I'll give a sperg a break. In answer to your questions: 1) yes, duh; 2) duh fucking duh yes. (And 3) ooooh, quite the gotcha there, you sure smoked out my progressive feminist inconsistency dude, I'm slain.)

Jupiter said...

Angelyne,

I find that you are the only person commenting here I never seem to disagree with. I hope you're not insulted, and don't the rest of you hold it against her.

John henry said...

Angelyne said

.they're not fucking spergs

Sperg as in aspergers syndrome?

Wow! I feel humiliated, gonna have to go see a shrink now. Way cool putdown.

John Henry

Anonymous said...

Jupiter: I find that you are the only person commenting here I never seem to disagree with.

Oh, well that's no fun! I'm sure in future we can find some things to disagree to agree about.