Wife no Virgin

[wildpokerman]

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1811460,00.html

So I really have no skin in the game about the French legal system but personally I don't see what the outcry is about. If the law is applied equally to both sexes and there's a law that allows a marraige to be annuled if one of the parties involved commits material fraud in the statements of fact that the marraige is based on then I have no problem with a marraige being annuled to a misstatement about virginity.

I mean no I'm not really a virgin seems small but the logical steps involved if you don't allow the man to get his annulment are you have to ignore:

1. I'm not a virgin, I've had sex before.

2. I'm not a virgin, I had sex with your Dad before.

3. I'm not a virgin, I've been having sex with your best friend up until an hour before we tied the knot.

I mean come on Frenchies, let the man play the get out of jail free card at level one and keep the courts out of this type of bullshit.

[Funkula]

My opinion of the case: France apparently has a smokin-hot Minister of Justice. This theory is borne out by the fact that the second GIS result for her name is a fake of her in a leather corset.

[Rimbo]

the chick is hot

that is all

[Crispus]

The judge had reasoned that the wife's claimed virginity constituted "an essential quality decisive for the consent of her husband to wed." That, protestors argued, reduced the woman — and by extension all women — to the status of goods whose acquisition could be renounced by husbands claiming to have discovered hidden impurities or defects in them.

So...in broader terms, the French government is arguing that someone shouldn't be allowed to use "number of previous sexual partners" as a criterion when deciding whether to marry someone? The judge's initial ruling seems pretty reasonable to me.

[Sarkus]

It's an interesting case. On the one hand you have a judge who decided he need to justify his ruling by arguing that the husband's complaint was valid, thus making the woman look bad and making it look like an Islamic interpretation of the husband/wife relationship. On the other hand you have a national government that appears to be appealing in order to set the judge straight without regard to the wishes of the woman involved.

There have been a few articles about the issues several European countries have been having trying to respect the views of their muslim minorities, even when these clash with western secular legal ideas. In some ways they are simply ignoring their laws and letting the local muslim communities govern themselves under islamic views.

[Jason McCullough]

This has to be a tough one for the wingnuts - which is worse, sex before marriage or muslims?

[BennyProfane]

For some interesting aspects of the decision...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/rise-of-rachida-dati-the-minister-the-virgin-bride-and-the-row-thats-dividing-a-nation-839611.html

It looks to me like she should have recused herself from even considering the issue.

[wildpokerman]

For some interesting aspects of the decision...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/rise-of-rachida-dati-the-minister-the-virgin-bride-and-the-row-thats-dividing-a-nation-839611.html

It looks to me like she should have recused herself from even considering the issue.

Good find, sounds like the facts of the case are more:

1. Judge makes reasonable decision.

2. Media spins decision to make it look like a controversy even though it's well within the bounds of law.

3. Racist French people are ready and willing to jump on the bandwagon.

4. Inexperienced justice minister jumps on the bandwagon making France look like a bunch of racist fools.

5. Media reports racist foolish behavior and rakes in huge profits on what should have been a nothing story.

[Phil_Stein]

This has to be a tough one for the wingnuts

Out of curiosity, are you cool with all forms of political namecalling? Feminazis? Welfare moms?

How 'bout racial namecalling - that cool too?

Edit: hehe - I'm just joshin' ya. We all know it's ok if the term is regularly used on HuffPo...

[Sarkus]

Out of curiosity, are you cool with all forms of political namecalling? Feminazis? Welfare moms?

How 'bout racial namecalling - that cool too?

Edit: hehe - I'm just joshin' ya. We all know it's ok if the term is regularly used on HuffPo...

Hey!

Jason's all about embracing a wide variety of viewpoints and respecting differences.

As long you're a liberal, that is.

[Midnight Son]

Ze french, ze are nutz.

[Lunch of Kong]

If it's fraud and misrepresentation to tell someone that you're a millionaire when you are not, then it is also fraud and misrepresentation to tell someone that you're a virgin when you're not.

[Jason McCullough]

Out of curiosity, are you cool with all forms of political namecalling? Feminazis? Welfare moms?

How 'bout racial namecalling - that cool too?

Edit: hehe - I'm just joshin' ya. We all know it's ok if the term is regularly used on HuffPo...

I call myself a bleeding heart liberal on a regular basis, so yes!

[unbongwah]

First off: Sarkozy = PIMP (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-530239/Carla-makes-debut-Frances-new-First-Lady--upstaged-glamorous-MP.html)

So, to boil the issue down to its barest bones:

Judge: She lied about her virginity.

Public: She lied about her virginity.

Funny what a difference a shift in emphasis can have.
Several devout Catholic spouses have won similar annulments on the grounds that their partner had lied to them and concealed a previous divorce. Devout Catholics have a right, under French law, to demand undivorced spouses. That does not mean that French courts disapprove of divorce.
To my mind, this is the crucial legal point, in that allowing something is not the same as condoning it. Not that I expect anyone over there to be reasonable about this; France is full of white people (http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/05/28/101-being-offended/).

[Kraaze]

If it's fraud and misrepresentation to tell someone that you're a millionaire when you are not, then it is also fraud and misrepresentation to tell someone that you're a virgin when you're not.

So if I marry a millionaire chick and she turns out to not be a millionaire is that grounds for annulment? ;-)