Le Figaro, a major French newspaper callout the US trans movement a trend

submitted by LeoneOkada from lefigaro.fr

all 13 comments
sorted by:
top
newinsightfulfun

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 12 insightful - 1 fun12 insightful - 0 fun13 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

Google Translate: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&u=https://www.lefigaro.fr/vox/societe/adolescents-transgenres-il-existe-un-vrai-phenomene-de-mode-aux-etats-unis-20201215

Transgender adolescents: "There is a real fashion phenomenon in the United States"

INTERVIEW - Abigail Shrier, American journalist with the Wall Street Journal, publishes an investigation into the enthusiasm for transgender children and adolescents in the United States. This phenomenon, which particularly affects young girls, is, according to the author, very worrying. His book is the subject of attacks and calls for boycott across the Atlantic.

LE FIGARO. - In your book, Irreversible Damage , you talk about the “social contagion” at work among young adolescents who decide to start a transition. what do you mean? Why use the term “social contagion” ?

Abigail SHRIER. - The phenomenon of social contagion refers to a type of influence exerted specifically by "peers", who encourage you to imitate a certain behavior. In the case of gender dysphoria, online “influencers” play a big role in spreading feelings of unease about one's own body, and encouraging the idea that any symptom of failure to be perfectly feminine means that a girl is likely transgender. Friends also play a big role in spreading and encouraging this feeling - both the propensity to identify as transgender and the urge to seek hormonal treatments or reassignment surgeries.

[paywall]

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 11 insightful - 10 fun11 insightful - 9 fun12 insightful - 10 fun -  (4 children)

His book

Rather amusingly, Google Translate misgendered Abigail as male.

[–]lovelyspearmintLesbeing a lesbian 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Hate to ruin your fun, but possessives only describe the gender of the object, not the owner. I.e. Ma mère could be a woman or man's mother, but it literally translates out to (female possessive my) since mère has the la in noun form and therefore uses the female ma possessive.

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

No fun ruined, though this does not change the dilemma for translation services (and those who trust them) if they cannot detect the correct translation; we would not say this in English. The translation therefore failed on that point, in a way that is amusing in the present context.

[–]lovelyspearmintLesbeing a lesbian 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

This is exactly the reason why this whole woke language would fail in countries with gendered language. When you have a language where everything is inherently gendered, it would take more work to change the way people speak. Saying la homme would sound like nails on a chalkboard to French people, I imagine.

[–]wafflegaffWoman. SuperBi. 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Yes, you bring up an interesting point and I wonder if or when this sort of thing will take hold in such languages.

[–]LeoneOkada[S] 10 insightful - 3 fun10 insightful - 2 fun11 insightful - 3 fun -  (0 children)

Urgh, it's a pay wall. Nvm, but at least, we're talking about it honestly!

[–]yousaythosethingsFind and Replace "gatekeeping" with "having boundaries" 11 insightful - 1 fun11 insightful - 0 fun12 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I couldn’t read most of the article because it’s behind a paywall but the beginning of the article focused on the social contagion effect on young people brought on by their friends and online influencers, as covered by Abigail Shrier. The drawing of Abigail looks like a mix between her and JKR, IMO.

[–]Eurowoman24 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

lol the one time France talks about this and it's Le Figaro.. of course. How about we focus on stopping the spread of it here, before it gets as crazy as north america and the uk, spain?

Edit: Huge problems to deal with here already, plus if they wanted to help this community they could focus on improving acceptance of LGB people in our society, which is not as banal as in anglophone countries.

[–]supersmokio6420 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

What kind of publication is Le Figaro?

[–]Eurowoman24 7 insightful - 1 fun7 insightful - 0 fun8 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

it's known as a right wing news outlet

[–]cure_osa_disorder 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Having come out as a teen in the 1990s, I never thought homosexuality would be considered "right-wing" by anyone before I became middle-aged.

[–]Eurowoman24 6 insightful - 1 fun6 insightful - 0 fun7 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Nah lol being LGB isn't right wing just yet (though there might be some LGB people who are here - just like lgb conservatives exist in the states). But LeFigaro being a right wing (not far right thank god LePen camp is crazy), is only going to reach a niche older generation already set in its ways. It's just not the media outlet that would make younger people open to a nuanced debate on this.