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.