Carla Bruni and women being men

There was an article in Vanity Fair about Carla Bruni.

I admit to not having ever heard of her before she ended up with Sarkozy, so I was curious.

Now, it’s a fairly flattering profile, and superficial, I know…but I was interested in my own reactions to it.

My first was the typical tear-down a woman does when confronted with another woman who is (a) beautiful at forty, (b) rich, (c) successful in modeling! and music!, and (d) now a major VIP.

“Oh, well, she’s not that gorgeous. And it's airbrushed. And she’s an heiress, so it’s all given to her on a platter. She’s a rock star groupie, and please, breathy folky music with soul-searching lyrics? Give me a break…"

But the more I read, the more I started to admire her.

She’s described in masculine terms – as an “alpha female” or as a hunter of men.

To me what that says about her is that she feels entitled, something women have a problem with. I’m not talking about our modern American environment-wrecking entitlement, but rather the ability to demand rather than to apologize, ask, then apologize for asking.

It reminded me of something I heard on NPR – an interview with Norah Vincent, a woman who went undercover as a man. (She’s not transgender, this was just to find out how the other half lives.) She said one of the lessons she would take back to her woman life from her stint as man was that men are much more comfortable demanding things, or rather asking for things without apology, without flirting, without looking like we just don’t want to bother anybody but would you mind just a little bit…

So maybe Carla Bruni is a homewrecker, if she feels like making music rather than being a muse, so much the better. I don’t even care if it’s good.