For the most part, our adventures in Paris have been very pleasant. We are in a residential neighborhood far from most of the tourist places and the shopkeepers and waiters have been kind and patient.
But tonight we went to the Pigalle neighborhood, or red light district. I was a bit put off at first, as the only women we saw were “hostesses”( who just looked sad and desperate, I wanted to pay their rent and feed their kids), but we had a blast at the erotic bookstore and then settled into the patio of a brasserrie and drank a hit load of wine. The area was lousy with drunk Brits. There was even a broken bottle fight. But eventually the bar we were at emptied of all the tourists but us. Next to us was a table full of drunk french men.
Ruth, being the awesome phenom that she is, is fluent in french and totally understood when the french drunks started talking shit about us. She asked them if they had a problem, but that didn’t shut them up. I could feel the cockswagger vibe coming off them, I think any women in the world understands the universal language of asshole misogynists. But it wasn’t until we got back to our apartment that Ruth felt comfortable telling me exactly what they were saying.
“For the right amount of money, we could fuck them both”
Now had I known that was the gist of their conversation, I would have pulled the ugly American card. I am seething right now because I didn’t get to say what I would have said to them in English. “Really, how much have you got? Oh I’m sorry, you don’t have enough for me to fuck such a small dick”
On the other hand, all of the North African immigrants we have met have been exceptionally kind and respectful. Next time some dickwad wants to go on and on about how much more sexually liberated Europe is than the rest of the world, I am going to remember the fucking french men and then punch someone in the face. The next time someone declares that all muslims are sexists, I’m going to do the same thing. Misogyny is everywhere and kindness often only comes from people with little power.