Last week, Catherine Deneuve and some-odd 100 Frenchwomen signed an open letter declaring that the #MeToo movement was going too far, and that it would be the end of flirtations and consensual sexual relationships, because logic. That open letter/petition was not well received. But Brigitte Bardot read that and thought “hold my beer.” Bardot is 83 years old and she believes that women should be flattered when they are sexually harassed and that victims coming forward are just looking for attention. Sure.
Brigitte Bardot, who publicly supports the far-right National Front and has at least five convictions for inciting racial hatred, was asked in an interview with the French magazine what she thought of actresses alleging sexual harassment under the #MeToo banner.
“In the vast majority of cases, they are being hypocritical, ridiculous, and uninteresting,” Bardot, 83, replied. “There are many actresses who flirt with producers in order to get a role. Then, in order to be talked about, they will say they have been harassed. In reality, rather than benefiting them, it harms them.”
In the new interview, according to a translation at The Daily Telegraph, Bardot says: “Me, I was never the victim of sexual harassment. And I found it charming when men told me that I was beautiful or I had a nice little backside. This kind of compliment is nice.”
I totally forgot that Bardot is a racist and a fascist to boot. Damn, she really got crazy as she got older, right? Do we have to even take her seriously enough to get angry about her comments? To all of the victims of abuse, assault, harassment and rape, please know this: you are not hypocritical, ridiculous or uninteresting. You don’t have to pass some kind of Bardot-Damon threshold to be believed. Brigitte Bardot is an a–hole.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Racist, fascist, and reading straight from the “cool girl” playbook.
Yea, i was gonna say, as soon as I read this headline, Brigitte Bardot is an actual racist and has been saying stupid sh-t for years, to the point where she’s been fined for it. We should just ignore her.
But thank you for adding your disclaimer abt believing victims Kaiser.
Bardot supports Le Pen and le Front National. Proof that animal lovers can also be sh*tty human beings.
I had no idea!
I thought she was a nice, somewhat eccentric old woman who stood up for animals.
Sigh. The last six months the amount of celebrities I like has dropped dramatically.
Yep. Disappointing, but just because you do one thing right…
Relationships w human beings take work, whilst fur babies give unconditional love. Sometimes animals are all lonely people have; I can relate to an extent, but I’ve educated myself to become part of the solution as I understand. We are never to old to go from “cool girl” to humanitarian.
Well, what can we expect from someone who was a very well know pin-up girl back in her young days? She made a career out of objectifying herself to men. So it kind of makes sense she sees nothing wrong with it. She made her moolah that way and she may be desensitized to the core issues. I grew up in Mexico City and even though some men just try to innocently flirt, some got to grope me on the street when I was still a teen and some even followed me with not the best of intentions. It is a very toxic, chauvinistic, macho society there. I developed a phobia of going out. When I came to the US it felt so good to walk on the streets without feeling constantly on guard. I hate some latin TV shows BCS they blatantly objectify women so much that the average male thinks all women just want to be sexually harassed. It is truly sick. No matter how modestly I dressed I got harassed every day I had to go somewhere. I hope the #metoo movement reaches Mexico and Latin America. It is another big can of worms over there.
@snap. I enrolled in an human sexuality class in college. I’m 50 and let the professor know I’m interested in the metoo timesup movement. This is historical and life changing. Never in my life did I think this toxic paradigm would change. I was both agoraphobic and afraid to go home in the male dominated culture I grew up in. If I dressed feminine I was “asking for it”; if I dressed like a guy I was “a slob”. I’m so grateful the wall of tolerance and silence has BROKEN- let it flood here and to every country!
@SNAP – your comment is almost exactly the same as my experience, only I’m from India. I have to police myself in a thousand little ways and can’t dress as I want and have to have a permanent bitchface on if I’m alone in certain places and want to discourage the worst of the sexual harassment (aside from certain specific places where I understand myself to be safe). It’s soul-sucking, and if it weren’t for the nasty pig men of my country, I wouldn’t have to do it and nor would any other woman.
Burn down the toxic masculinity in every culture, I say. None should escape!
“I had a great time being objectified and you should too! That’s exactly why I disappeared from polite society and started associating with right wing extremists, because of my total happiness at being considered nothing more than lips and b**bs”
Do sit down Bridge. Please.
(And it’s not just the fact that she’s older, a lot of women of her generation are totally getting the #metoo movement. It’s just her (and CD)… )
I think Bardot and Deneuve are from a different era of “Boys will be boys, men will be men” and they make excuses for that.
There is a difference between a man on the street saying, “You’re beautiful. I’d love to take you out for a drink” and a man in charge of hiring/firing you saying, “You’ve got a nice body, I’d love to get together with you to discuss your career.”
And said man on the street if you tell him no just moves on.
honestly, unless it’s my romantic partner, I don’t want men talking about my body. It’s kind of gross.
Yes! Exactly. I was feeling more in the past days that i wanted to wear more clothing, so that random people didn’t comment on or notice my body. It’s so weird. I can’t tell if it’s just in my head or the feeling is a result of this movement, but i don’t think you should have to diligently guard you body, your movements and your actions to keep other people’s behavior in check. It’s made me hyper-aware, and not in a good way 😥👎🏻
Ugh. I used to have a male coworker who regularly commented on my clothing choices. He framed it as flattery but it came across as controlling, like he wanted a say in what I wore and rewarded me with compliments when I chose correctly.
I usually don’t wear very tight clothing because I have an hourglass figure and frankly don’t like the attention, but on my birthday I wore a pretty figure-hugging dress. I was at my birthday party at a friend’s house posing for some pictures with my girlfriends while my husband was outside. Some of our guy friends were watching us from the kitchen. From there one of the younger guys (he’s around 24, I’m 33) yelled “Um….NB, is that real??” and motioned to his front/back, talking about my breasts/butt. I was mortified and just yelled back “yep, all me”. Ugh.
I’ve been wearing baggy clothing since.
My (french) grandmother is her age, and she is really happy about this movement. “It’s about time, your generation can do something really big here” she said to me at Christmas dinner. It’s also educational I believe, and my grandma has never been the outspoken feminist. We never talked about this before
Yay!! Good for you and your grandma, léna
Yes, I was also surprised by my 70 year old mother being fully behind this movement. Strongly behind it! But then she experienced years of sexual harassment in her 20s and 30s.
Good for your grandmother!
Yay for your grandmother! I think there were many women who were bothered by the culture of their time, but felt too oppressed to do anything about it. I am so happy the tide is changing for my daughter.
Same for my french- algerian grandmother she is so so pleased this is happening and is fully behind the movement!
Brigitte Bardot is just a shitty human being whop happened to had a tremendous external beauty in her youth… besides that no talent, brains or heart!
Not only that, I think her generation was taught that women only have value if men find them physically attractive. Many girls I know still think like that, imagine how it wasn’t back then. It’s natural that they take harassment as a compliment.
agree, internalized misogyny is real
Bardot lost her V card to the late Roger Vadim. Deneuve has a child by him. Jane Fonda married him, and has a daughter, Vanessa Vadim, by him.
A few years prior to his death, Vadim wrote a tell-all about his affairs, specifically Bardot, Deneuve and Fonda. He was a mysoginist a**hole, who seemingly enjoyed using women as playthings while lavishing attention to his femme du jour. A master manipulator.
He told Bardot she couldn’t be both a virgin and a woman; Fonda acquiesced to his need to have another woman in their marriage bed (the threesomes ended their marriage and almost broke her).
I’m not making excuses for Bardot’s comments, or Deneuve’s, for that matter, because they seem to be all in with their comments. But given their history with Vadim, I’m not surprised by their attitudes.
Fonda couldn’t live with him anymore, and left him.
That’s really interest king about Roger Vadim. Love when someone in the comments has some good vintage knowledge!
Fonda has always talked very matter of fact about her time with him. I just thought he was scum and what you have said about him with Bardot and Deneuve does not change that.
I didn’t know that! He was so unattractive – like his face reflected what’s on the inside. What did all these beautiful women see in him? I try not to be super cynical but when I see an ugly, vile, awful man and find out that he was married to/in relationship with 3 of the most beautiful women ever, only one answer comes to mind. Maybe that’s why Denevue and Bardot both signed this petition – because they both believe in giving sexual favors to powerful men in return for career options and are afraid that future generations of women like them will lose that chance?
Hmmm time was not kind to her and it seems it shouldn’t be. Aged former “sex pot” who never had anything to offer to society besides her looks and confirms it by spouting off sexists bull crap. Go away Bardot, I’m sure they will name drop you again in some fashion magazine in some cliche way.
I’m guessing she got to her fame by offering sex – she was indeed hot back in the day, but terrible at acting – and is now surprised people find that gross.
Her age, past career choices and looks should not place a woman under attack. Her views are horrible enough to do that.
i agree. thanks for saying it
Her outside reflects her inside. Both look bitter and not very attractive.
I had no idea she was such a vile person. I did know she was/is very active in fighting for animal rights. Guess she doesn’t care that much about human rights.
Same here. I love that she loves animals. But the rest is horrible. I have no idea what to think… She’s weird. To put it mildly.
I recall reading a quote from her saying something to the effect of “I gave my youth and beauty to men. The animals get all of me that’s left”. At the time, I remember thinking she wasn’t such a “superfan” of men, and was kind of implying she maybe felt a bit exploited, but I guess she enjoyed all the attention while it lasted.
It must be nice to have the privilege to be able to think that the sexual assault of others is “uninteresting”, what is that kind of disconnect from the reality of life like? What must it feel like to live with that level of security knowing that you are special enough not to ever be bothered by something as vulgar as “real” life.
That’s the word I found most offensive (and telling, too). Sorry, Ms. Bardot, for boring you…shame on us! She says she was never the victim of sexual harassment, so, why are her opinions even relative? If the women and the movement are so uninteresting to her, why even comment? Gah! This woman is one of the most shameless xenophobic and racist voices out there, I should not be at all surprised, but, damn, when any woman speaks this way, I can’t help but be disappointed.
Agree with both of your comments… plus the idiocy of “you are so uninteresting to me that I am not only going to sign a letter decrying you, but I am also going to give an interview about just how uninteresting I find you, please stop attracting my attention and wrath with your uninteresting-ness!”
I’m flattered when a guy flirts with me, but sexual harassment doesn’t feel flirtatious and it’s NOT flattering
I know, right. After this and all kinds of answers on the Ansari article, I wonder: What do people understand under the word “flirting”? Dunno, but I wouldn’t describe a potential boss (= a producer in her case) commenting on my tush “flirting”. Or some dude I don’t know doing that on the street or in a bar. I think we’d have to be at least on date #3 for that not to be weird.
Guys don’t waste your time on being upset about things Bridgette Bardot says, you won’t have time left to breath. She hate humans (humans of colour in particular though) and has forever. She should not be dignified with any attention.
I agree. Sometimes the phrase “the only way to win is not to play,” applies; it does here. Don’t look for the logic in her arguments, it doesn’t exist.
I agree. Can we just not with these women? They have severe ingrained misogyny and the lack of desire or inability to recognize it, and we shouldn’t bother with them.
Agree, she is a vile relic of the colonial age and should be casually dismissed.
Does she remind anyone else of Ursula?
Yes.
If you’re referring to Ursula from The Little Mermaid, might I add:
Ursula: I’m not asking much, just a token really, a trifle. What I want from you is your voice.
Ariel: But without my voice, how can I-
Ursula: You’ll have your looks, your pretty face. And don’t underestimate the importance of body language, ha! (…) Come on, (men) are not all that impressed with conversation.
True gentlemen avoid it when they can. But they dote and swoon and fawn on a lady who’s withdrawn. It’s she who holds her tongue who gets a man!
Sounds about right for her, doesn’t it?
Congrats Brigitte, you’re legit a Disney villain!
Omg you guys are so spot on!
I am stunned she’s still around…with all the Marlboro Reds she’s smoked!
She’s like the living illustration of that page from that Roald Dahl book that talks about how people with good thoughts are beautiful even if they’re all wonky-featured, while people with ugly thoughts end up ugly on the outside too, with time.
Photographs of her younger self may end up on fashion designers’ moodboards every year (those damn off-shoulder tops), but no amount of ignoring what the older Bardot has become will actually make anyone forget.
She is a vile human being who does not care for other humans, especially if they are Black or Muslim or both. Go away, Brigitte!
Don’t forget, she also particularly hates gay people.
oh yeah that too… and feminists too! and unattractive persons…
The lady is a hoot! sight…
She’s also a racist with an uncanny resemblance to the orange demon.
Dr. Laura – the far right “help” radio person also says women should feel complimented when a random man just calls out, “Nice ass!” She says she loves it! Is this an older generation thing?
It is a way of coping, IMO. Tell yourself everything is fine and in fact that this attention directed at you is good, not bad. Just like when I was a little girl, if a boy bullied or was physically violent, the (invariably female) adults in my life would tell me that I should take it as a compliment and “he’s only behaving that way because he likes you.”
I’m really sorry that happened to you, chaine.
Hey why did you throw Damon in this post. I know his comments have been bad, but there are others worse than him by a mile. I’m all for throwing Trump in any of these posts though. We constantly need to press he’s a sexist harasser. Trump does so much wrong I think this behavior doesn’t get enough attention, as obviously we have to pound it in to some peoples skull so they won’t elect him again.
I do think some of this is age, and these women just see life as it used to be, and they adapted to it. All women should feel thankful that today is different, not perfect, but a bit better , and we should strive for even more. She did indirectly make one good point. There are some women and men who use sex to get jobs and other things. How do we reconcile this, as obviously with the casting couch some people willingly went. I think we need to talk about that, because there is still the power imbalance and I think we need to teach those in power you shouldn’t do this at all. This may inhibit relationships in the workplace, but honestly I’m not sure what else to do.
I agree! Abt two years ago, a guy i wa seeing asked me why i cared so much abt politics. Because a hundred years ago, i couldn’t vote or own property or wear pants, for God’s sakes! The personal is definitely political.
I also will say (and here’s where im too much of a sap), is that Brigitte Bardot was obviously taught that the only value she had was her looks, and now that she’s degenerating into old age, she feels nasty and combative abt young women getting attention. It makes me feel bad for her. Not enough to think she’s a good person, or to pay her any inordinate amount of attention, but no one should have to go through life thinking that the only thing valuable abt them is their exterior. That’s not fun, and it’s very damaging to a person.
I’m binge-watching shameless, and im at the point where Emmy Rossum (can we have more Emmy Rossum posts, please?) is taking a poll of the women she works at her grocery w, and they vote in favor of continuing to blow the manager (everyone had been doing it but her, the manager was exploiting his position because these are poor women that need jobs.) Sometimes people accept things in life because they’re driven by economic circumstances. Brigitte Bardot wanted to be a movie star; she obviously thought sex would get her there. And it’s sad, we should actually pity her and make sure it doesn’t happen again, that no young girl needs to be in that position.
Old school European points of view obviously vary. Some women are ok with being viewed as sexual objects. It is what it is. Some built their careers on it. American women are less likely to agree because America has its own set of standards, everyone here has to work to get ahead and women are just as aggressive and competent as men.
Your comment is utterly disturbing by the generalization it makes… do you know every European woman???… As in Europe being a whole continent …
I am French and 95 % of women don’t want to be viewed as sexual objects…
oh and since you went there let’s make the comparison we have free daycare, fully paid maternity leave for months, and financial support for extra child care (after school, etc..)….
To actually have careers and not dream of one.
ps : get a passeport !
Bardot is a charming woman who wrote in her autobiography (for the world to read) that when she was pregnant with her son she felt the growing baby was like a tumour growing inside of her.
She also said years later than having him was her biggest regret.
Wow. Just wow. I hadn’t heard that one. Your own child…that’s on a whole other level.
Yikes.
Yes but she also wrote that her then husband, Charrier, wanted the baby and she didn’t because she wasn’t ready. The guy hit her and kept her locked up until it was too late for her to abort. She spent her pregnancy locked up because the paparazzis were gathered at the bottom of her building trying to get a photo of bardot pregnant, they even rented appartements across the road from hers to try and get a photo through her windows that she had to leave the curtains closed all the time. She writes how she couldn’t even get to the clinic to give birth. After the birth of her son, she couldn’t connect with him…she had what we now know was a post partum depression. ..she got no help for it then because it wasn’t a “thing” back then , they just cried scandal and said she was a horrible mother. She tried to commit suicide not too long afterwards.
Years later ,she married Gunther Sachs, whom she loved…only to find out afterwards that he married her as a bet he had on with his buddies.
My God, what a horrible life she’s had!
Its true what they say, hurt people hurt people. Chai!!
this reminds me to put on sunscreen
She probably is angry
She comes from an era where an actress without much social standing was a free for all game. God knows the things she went through and internalized silently to get through
Now that she sees women coming forward, not tolerating the bullshit, demanding safety, calling put harassers, she probably feels devalidated and frustated for not having the same opportunities.
And all these lead to blaming women more
Hurt people hurt people. The saying is true.
I am in awe of your compassion, truly. (no sarcasm whatsoever)
Absolutely, but her awful views go far beyond that.
She comes from a very privileged background: her mom’s best free d was editor in Chief of French ELLE, and got her her first jobs… and from her agent to producers everyone came from family connections.
I think her problem is that she never left the bubble
Eww didn’t know she was a racist. So we have a r*pe apologist racist, yikes.
Shes comes from a different era. She grew up in a very Mad Men-esque world where it was it the norm. It still was wrong back then too, but I can sort of understand why she doesnt think its a big deal.
What a horrible person.
My mother was RIGHT! ” Don’t get mired down in hatred or you’ll get the face you deserve! “
Hahaha! She’s correct.
“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.” Roald Dahl
This is the only thing I think of when I look at this woman. She’s a nasty piece of work.
Yeah, well she also thinks mixed race children are “half breed bastards” so WGAF about what she thinks?
I forgot abt the nastier things she has said. Let’s just cancel her right now.
Ugh. So if this gross bish, actually once said that about children, why is she even getting press now? Who gaf what some racist demon thinks? She was cancelled when she grunted her first racist bs.
I think Brigitte Bardot is ridiculous, hypocritical and uninteresting, so I guess we’re even.
Welp, she got the face she deserved.
bless her heart.
sharon stone had it right, we (our generation) has been taught to accommodate men, hopefully future generations will be more equal.
Well, of course! She got somewhere via sexual harassment and (most likely) assault. It “worked” for her. So how dare women complain about it?
Sheesh. This one needs to sit down.
Bardot takes this position because
A) She knows all she ever had to offer were her looks. Without them, she would never have been famous. No one comments about her stellar and emotive talent.
B) She thinks that sexual currency is the only currency any woman has to offer, because see A.
C) She is actually the irrelevant actress speaking up and trying to get attention, because she no longer has B and still believes in A, therefore, what other way can she get press?
What a revolutionary idea, that women are people too, just like men and should be treated with respect and professionalism… instead of as objects here for a man’s pleasure.
In a world where females are considered second-class citizens and sex objects, the only possible achievement for a woman is to associate with male power. This is generational only in the sense that the women’s liberation movement has seen huge gains in the past century, so we see some women still holding onto and benefiting from misogynistic attitudes. There are also many young women with Bardot’s attitudes. However, we have historical evidence that many women have expressed a desire to be treated as humans equal to men. I often reference the English writer Mary Wollstonecraft, writing in the 18th century. Time is not only up, it is woefully overdue.
I’m going to chalk it up to cultural differences. The #metoo movement is going international but there’s always going to be differences in how things are perceived. What an American perceives as harassment may not be perceived as such in other places. I’m not going to waste my time and energy getting worked up over the comments made by a washed up former femme fatale.
She is absolutely vile. The young Brigitte Bardot was one of the most stunning women I have ever seen, but as she got older she turned into a horrible person–or maybe she was always a horrible person. Either way, I see her horrible person-ness all over her face now and she looks repulsive to me. And not because she’s elderly–I think MANY elderly women are still very beautiful. This is a case of an inner ugly shining outward.
She’s an example for the people who got where they got in live because of her looks. That often means they don’t need to develop other qualities.
Thanks for that, Brigitte. Next: Eva Braun’s views on good husband material.
I couldn’t care less what this racist old cow has to say. And for the record: one doesn’t become a racist and a fascist in old age – she was ALWAYS a racist and a fascist. And karma has certainly worked it’s magic on her – she looks like the Crypt Keeper.
Its got to be the era, they are touching, demanding and taking now lady! they are not just complimenting.
I don’t condone her judgements per se but what she is saying isn’t untrue. There is a pervasive aspect of the film industry where women use sex appeal to get ahead and yes it creates an environment where men also feed on this …. you use me, I use you , Hollywood is a very user friendly environment. I’ve worked in the industry for the past 12 years and I’ve seen both : women who use sex to get ahead and women who get sexually harassed. I myself am a female and I’ve been on the harassment end of things but it’s a place where you shrug it off most days and keep going.
Not to say that it should be shrugged off , in fact every contract we sign had at least 10 pages on sexual harassment. What everyone needs to understand is that Hollywood or the Circus as we like to call it is a very tricky place with a really thick hierarchy and many outdated ways of doing things
i hope you stand up and FIGHT for change.
So, the French women should just stop talking. Flirting isn’t assault, or rape. It’s flirting. Not the problem dumb-asses.
Damn I’m going to be in total disagreement with most of the posters here but enough is enough! I am sick and tired of these allegations against men who mean absolutely no harm and are just interacting with the opposite sex. You can’t have it both ways! It’s like if a hot guy rejects you you’re all hurt but when a fat slob comes on to you it’s harassment! (Not everyone, just a few pathetic broads). Is flirting now harassment? Are you being totally honest when a little part of you isn’t flattered by flirting? Where is the line? So over fat broads.
I have many female friends who are feminists but who also have internalized misogyny. They say things like ‘I hope I have boys, I can’t stand girls.’ and tend to be male apologist. So this doesn’t surprise me at all.
I don’t blame your friends. A lot of women are horrible to other women, especially when it comes to men.
Hmmm. Well La Bardot (who is yet another French actress suffering from gueule de crapaud) I personally think histrionic PETA people are terminally uninteresting and beyond ridiculous but I usually keep that to myself.
She looks like the judge from “Nothing But Trouble” now. When your outside matches your inside, introspection may be too late a journey.
This is so weird: they were showing one of her movies on TCM last night and wow. Talk about a whole different era!