Author Corinne Meyer says, quoting feminist Benoit Croulx, “Women, it's time to live for yourself, because selfishness is health.” #I am the first! Manifesto for Feminine Selfishness Published in 2007, this French psychoanalyst wrote with great humor a reflection on women's altruistic sacrifice. No Child, 40 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Have ChildrenA politically incorrect and highly enjoyable bestseller.
At 60, Corinne Meyer is starting a new life. Without children. “My 27-year-old son finally left home six months ago, what a release! », she laughs on the other end of the line. “It's wonderful, I'm fully alive again, I feel younger and younger! Free! Total liberation feels so good!”, she says, noting that her 29-year-old daughter lives in California and already left home a few years ago.
In #I am the first! Manifesto for Feminine SelfishnessCorinne Meyer thinks it's time for women to assert their right to be selfish, just like men, because selfishness is the path to liberation.
“Why are women relegated to supporting roles? Why can't they be selfish? Refusal to serve others? Refusing to spend more time on housework, children and caring for their aging parents while the brothers work? “, she asks.
Corinne Maier promotes the selfishness of living for oneself, not the selfishness of competition.
I don't want to be better than others, to the detriment of others. My definition of self-interest is the power to choose oneself, to love oneself, to assert oneself.
Corinne Meyer, editor
Selfishness is the path to liberation
Feminine self-interest challenges preconceived notions of women's benevolence. “The traditional image of women is softness, gentleness, family harmony. Women do 75% of the world's unpaid care work, and they still have a lot to choose from [trop] Occupations linked to the care of others, nurses, teachers, educators, are low-paying, low-reward occupations. We need to encourage young women into science, engineering, technology, math and finance because too few of them go into these high-paying careers. We need to develop this awareness that they can move on to other careers. »
Photo by CÉline NIESZAWER, Editions DE L'OBSERVATOIRE
Corinne Maier, psychologist and author # I am First! Manifesto for Feminine Selfishness
Corinne Meyer explains in her statement that the struggle for self-interest is above all a struggle against oneself. Because over the years, with two children born in addition to her work, she could not assert her right to self-interest. Family, husband and children are obstacles to women's career development.
“It's a mistake to think it's simply a system issue,” he insists. Housework and children are still largely women's tasks. A baby that fulfills women, the miracles of motherhood, and all this talk of being the good mother society deems you to be fully available to your children while educational barriers continue to rise. Fatherhood is rarely said to fulfill men. »
But why did she have children? “I don't see any other explanation except for compatibility! »
Earlier it was not possible to say no to a child, today it is more accepted. Childlessness is the new norm!
Corinne Meyer, editor
Your own space
In her book, the psychologist and essayist describes her long road to self-care and offers some advice to women, even though she knows that Quebec is a step ahead of France in sharing responsibilities at home. “Choose your spouse wisely who is willing to share chores and be lazy about the housework! I know it's a luxury to have a place to yourself, but if you can create a haven of peace, even if it's in a shed in the garden, it's liberating.”
A few years ago she started renting a maid's room in Paris, which has become her refuge, as she calls it. Confetti, because this place is so small and cheerful. “That's where I wrote this book, that's where I live unhindered, that's where I isolate myself. »
What would happen if women stopped doing everything? “The command to show unity rests on two-thirds female shoulders. A society founded on the free labor of a section of the population in the name of better principles is not fit to continue. Under the sun of the feminine ego, the world will change. When this egalitarian society comes, I Discotis, I promise. But not before,” he writes at the end of his report.
# I am First! Manifesto for Feminine Selfishness
Les Éditions de l'Observatoire
170 pages
