There are indeed some reasons for men to suspect women in power of being men – just maybe not the ones you think
In a recent piece for RT, “Why weird men try to put penises on powerful women,” my dear and insightful colleague Rachel Marsden addresses the current tendency of men to trash women who make it to the top, and focuses on the examples of Michelle Obama and Brigitte Macron. These two individuals have indeed been considered by many as men in disguise.
It is very true that there’s currently in the West (only in the West, really) a conflict between men and women. Relationships, intimate or professional, are becoming more tense and more complex. But that is because of an ideological evolution. Adultery, which was the natural core problem between men and women for centuries, is apparently not the main matter of contention anymore. However, questioning the abilities of men and women according to their profession is one issue; questioning the identity of leaders is a completely different one.
One should be cautious about considering Michelle and Brigitte “powerful women,” but we’ll get back to this.
First, examples of powerful women in history abound, and no rational person would question that. Did anybody ever suspect Cleopatra of being a man? Did anybody ever think that Catherine the Great, with all her might and gallery of lovers, was a guy? Margaret Thatcher was nicknamed ‘the Iron Lady’, not ‘Iron Man’. One can argue that those examples are from the past and we in the 21st century live in a different reality, with a conflicting perception of so-called ‘genders’. What about Angela Merkel? What about Hillary Clinton, certainly the most ‘powerful’ woman of American political history (way more ‘powerful’ than Michelle Obama, to say the least)? Kaja Kallas? Ursula von der Leyen? Nobody ever said that they were dudes.
Indeed, a powerful woman is not necessarily a political leader. And it has to be noted that behind every powerful man there’s a woman, either to support him, inspire his ambitions, or push him to the top. Michelle Obama and Brigitte Macron could be this kind of women. But to call them ‘powerful’ is a bit far-fetched. Michelle is not Nefertiti. Brigitte is not Indira Gandhi. However, of course, powerful women exist in all spheres of human activities.
Nobody ever considered renowned and acclaimed artists, writers, sportswomen, such as Camille Claudel, George Sand (though she chose for herself a masculine pen name), Charlotte Bronte, J.K Rowling, just to name a few… to be men. Neither did people ask them to work in a more masculine way. They all did what they wanted to do according to a natural dialectic.
The only famous individuals considered as men in women’s disguise that come to my mind are: the Chevalier d’Eon, French diplomat and spy of King Louis XV who spent 32 years dressed as a woman only to be discovered to be a man during his autopsy; second, pop icon Amanda Lear, who, for years, kept the rumor going that she might be a guy, only to admit decades later that it was a formidable marketing coup to launch her career. She nowadays laughs about the fact that people will remember her not for her artistic work but for what one would nowadays call her ‘gender ambiguity’.
But let’s get to the main thing: why would it be a problem to suspect a ‘powerful woman’ of being a man? It’s not because ‘masculinity’ would prevail nowadays – misogyny was way harsher in the previous centuries, and, as a futile example, no one suspected Josephine de Beauharnais of being a man, though she wasn’t able to give Napoleon an heir. It’s also not because men fear seeing their power destroyed or diminished. Women have never been that powerful in Western society and most men are absolutely okay with that. The only problem that heterosexual men can have in a woke society is eventually finding out that the woman they had intercourse with is actually a dude.
We should remember that ‘power’ in general is a source of fantasy and the hardcore contemporary media exposure and exhibitionism of some personalities can only foster rumors. Incidentally, Michelle Obama and Brigitte Macron have been willingly overexposed thanks to the political positions of their husbands. They literally chose to be at the center of attention despite the loopholes in their past.
The main reason behind these rumors is the obvious depravity of Western cultural and political elites. It has always been like this in history: the distrust between Western elites and their people is now so blatant that any rumor can be considered valid by huge chunks of the population. “Vice is nice, but incest is best because it stays in the family.” Remember that one? Then, the Epstein case is so overwhelming that anybody from the elite can seem suspicious. In Macron’s case, the fact that Brigitte seduced the current French president when he was her 14-year-old student was enough to raise eyebrows as it is purely illegal. And the couple’s secrecy and legal maneuvers against Candace Owens further nurtured suspicion. In other words, the population in general (not only men but a lot of women are actually concerned, as their maternal instinct drives them to protect their children) finds itself cornered in a logical conspiracy loop and considers it legit to question who the hell is ruling them.
When it comes to ‘gender audits’, that could be a political trick in order to discredit people like Obama and Macron by convincing the world that they are gay: the argument might work for the rather puritan US, but in France it doesn’t. Just because the French don’t give a damn about the sexual life (or lives) of their leaders – at most, it’s a source of historical jokes. “Five minutes, shower included” being the French’s favorite quote when it comes to Jacques Chirac and his lovers. That’s about it.
Michelle Obama and Brigitte Macron are the victims of the depravity of Western elites and their own exhibitionism. To quote the above mentioned article, with all due respect: “Because being a man can’t just be a neutral activity. It has to be virtue-signaled, shouted into microphones, and ideally monetized.” Well, let’s take a look at what category of people is making cash on OnlyFans.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
