Christine Hill: ‘Rules for Girls’ translation and notes
1. Listen to the man
Tout homme Any man
2. Do what the man says
Toujours Always
3. Stay silent
Même si l’homme te fait mal Even if he hurts you
4. The man decides who owns you
Et quando. And when
5. Obey the priest.
Il primero Papa The first Pope
fu Pierre was Peter
Upon this rock
hypocrisy was built,
pédophiles cachés. paedophiles hidden
Praise the church?
Obey the priest?
Tu blagues! You’re joking!
6. Fais attention aux animaux hommes! Be careful of animals men!
Your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit
selon le prêtre. according to the priest.
Don’t be too loose, too louche, trop salope, too slutty,
too
pissed
No lo des todo Don’t give it all
Cover up les jambes, les seins, your legs, your breasts,
your silky skin
o il grande lupo cattivo ti divorerà. or the big bad wolf will gobble you up.
7. Stay alive
Don’t lead him on
Dale lo que quiere Give him what he wants
Don’t be too demanding
o demasiado cansado or too tired
o troppo brutto or too ugly
Put on some lipstick, look happy
y no te quejes and don’t complain
Don’t make him kill you.
8. Own your prayers.
Au nom du Dieu le Père In the name of God the Father
et Dieu le Fils… and God the Son…
For god’s sake,
even a Holy Ghost
is conjured up to humble you,
te mettre à genoux. to bring you to your knees.
Where is God the Girl?
Preghiamo per lei. Let’s pray to her.
9. Know your father.
Le non du père, selon Lacan [1] The no of the father, according to Lacan
Can take you further
farther from your mother
Le Nom du Père The Name of the Father
is there
Go find your self
Choose other
règles du jeu. game rules.
[1] The French psychoanalyst, Jacques Lacan played with the similar sounding, ‘Le non du père’ and ‘ Le Nom du Père’ to make the point that the power of the father to say ‘no’, that is to disrupt the mother-infant relationship, is necessary in order to allow the infant to separate from mother and develop her own identity.
I wanted to play with Lacan’s Oedipal formulation and suggest that the developing female must also find a way to reject the father’s (and other males’) ongoing dominance.