French lesbian wants to erase men

News from France:

A new generation of French activists emerging in the post #MeToo era are turning to lesbian feminism to denounce centuries of male oppression, inspiring the first march of lesbians in forty years but also sparking controversy.

French feminists are increasingly drawing on the tools of political lesbianism, which argues heterosexuality and patriarchy are inextricably linked, to contest pervading inequalities between the sexes.

This has caused deep rifts in public opinion -- while some laud it as evidence of a new method embraced by a younger generation with a greater intolerance of sexism, others criticise what they perceive as a war on the heterosexual lifestyle. ...

Ana, 34, had suffered from eating disorders, including bulimia, since her teenage years.

She credits becoming a lesbian last year with healing, as she now sees herself through the eyes of women.

"It becomes absolutely impossible to combine feminist ideas with an intimate life with men," she told AFP, a "Survivor of heterosexuality" placard in her hand.

"It makes you go crazy," she added.

- 'Hatred of men'? -

But there has also been a backlash. Philosopher Elisabeth Badinter, a veteran universal feminist voice, denounced in an article for the Journal du Dimanche last September an emerging "hatred of men" and "warlike neofeminism".

When journalist and local politician Alice Coffin's essay "The Lesbian Genius" came out in September, there was an outcry among France's political class, mostly due to one passage.

"It's not enough to help one another, we have to erase (men) from our minds, from our pictures, from our representations," Coffin wrote.