Corinne Maier is an economist, psychoanalyst and essayist. She has written 15 books, including Bonjour Paresse (Hello Laziness, 2004) and No Kid (2007). She recently published #MeFirst! Manifeste pour un Egoïsme au Féminin (#MeFirst! Manifesto for Female Selfishness,L’Observatoire, 160 pages, €18).
Why are you advocating for ‘female selfishness’?
I wrote this book to denounce a great injustice: unlike men, women don’t have the right to be selfish. As a child, when my cousin used to snatch my toys, everyone would say, “He’s a real little boy!” But when I stole his things, no one would say, “She’s a real girl!” For men, selfishness is very much tolerated, even rewarded. A man who doesn’t get up at night to look after the baby doesn’t have time to shop for groceries because he gets home late from work, needs to play sports during the weekend to unwind… all this is considered normal. On the flip side, a woman who forgets when she’s supposed to pick up her child from school because she’s having a drink with her friends is seen as a bad mother. She’s betraying her protective nature – an outrage!
Some say that modern women have never been so free to make choices regarding their career, couple, children… What is your perspective on the matter?
Figures show that the imbalance persists and that the mental load continues to be unevenly distributed. Women perform 75% of the world’s unpaid care work. On average, they take care of childrenfour times as much and domestic chores three times as much. Their lives are still far more limited than those of men. Looking after others takes up their time and energy while limiting their perspectives. Conversely, men do what they feel like doing, whether they have
