The ‘Transvestigation’ of Brigitte Macron

In what has to be one of the most bizarre defamation cases of all time, the French president has vowed to prove that his wife is not a man. Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron’s lawyers plan to provide scientific and photographic evidence to conclusively show that the French first lady is not, in fact, a transgender woman. To be clear, that means pictures of a pregnant Brigitte, not whatever else you might have been imagining. 

This is all part of a truly insane lawsuit, in which the French presidential couple are suing American right-wing commentator Candace Owens for spreading a conspiracy theory that Mrs. Macron was born a man. According to the theory, Brigitte is actually Jean-Michel Trogneux, and ‘he’ apparently groomed a teenage Macron before transitioning into a woman. Owens has described this as “the biggest scandal in political history.” 

Frankly, the Macrons have enough skeletons in their closet, even without speculating that Mme Macron is secretly male. The pair met while the young Emmanuel was in school, and Brigitte was his teacher, 24 years his senior. The pair argue that their relationship always stayed firmly “within the bounds of the law,” and they married in 2007, when Macron was 30 and Brigitte 54. By this point, she had three children from her previous marriage. 

So far, so French. But what has really captured the internet’s imagination is that Brigitte could be hiding her ‘true’ sex. The evidence for this theory is unconvincing, to say the least. For starters, there already exists a Jean-Michel Trogneux—Brigitte’s brother, who is very much a separate person from Brigitte herself. The bulk of the rumour relies on edited photos and documents or simply asserting that Brigitte looks somewhat masculine. 

It follows a trend of ‘transvestigating,’ where online sleuths examine images of masculine-looking (usually famous) women in order to determine whether they’re secretly trans. Other targets include former U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. This is an eccentric, if harmless enough, hobby, akin to believing that the U.S. government is hiding aliens away from the public. If people want to spend their time analysing bone structure and hip-to-waist ratios, that’s their prerogative. Who am I to yuck anybody’s yum? 

The idea that Brigitte is secretly trans probably would have stayed a kooky internet conspiracy theory, had the Macrons not responded to the claims so publicly. Already, two French women have been found guilty of slandering Brigitte and ordered to pay €8,000 to her and €5,000 to her brother as punishment for spreading the rumour online. But this summer, the verdict was overturned, finding that the threshold for defamation had not been met. 

Now, the Macrons have filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Supreme Court, claiming that Owens has engaged in a “relentless year-long campaign of defamation against them.” Apparently, the couple has suffered “substantial economic damages” as a result of the conspiracy theory, including “loss of future business opportunities.” They argue that Owens has damaged “relationships with other members of the government, potential political allies and others” and ruined “confidence in the Macrons’ integrity and fitness as political and governmental leaders.” Owens, for her part, seems positively delighted with all the publicity. “I am fully prepared to take on this battle,” she has defiantly announced. “On behalf of the entire world, I will see you in court.” 

You might think that Macron has bigger things to worry about than silly internet rumours. He has lost four prime ministers in the last 21 months and is currently contending with a collapsing government. Not to mention how ridiculous it is that the president of an entire country should concern himself with the whisperings of podcasters. Being a politician, especially a high-profile one, brings a certain level of public speculation about one’s private life. This can often be distasteful and intrusive, but it nonetheless comes with the territory. Clearly, Macron and his wife have never heard of the Streisand effect—trying to suppress or silence a rumour will, inevitably, amplify it. 

The fact that the transvestigation of Mrs. Macron has got this far also points to just how much trans ideology has poisoned the discourse. Being told for years that women can have penises has clearly done a number on too many people. The threat of bumping into a man in the women’s loos has, somewhat understandably, made women wary of who enters their spaces. 

The unfortunate victims of this are often masculine- or androgynous-looking women. Today, being tall, having a flat chest, or possessing a defined jawline might be treated with suspicion. Indeed, there have been cases where women have been asked to leave female spaces because others have mistaken them for trans-identifying men. In one scenario, a security guard at a hotel in Boston reportedly demanded a lesbian woman leave the female toilets, believing she was a man. The woman showed the guard her ID, but she and her girlfriend were nonetheless asked to leave. Even worse, a woman was mistakenly sent to a men’s prison in Scotland on account of her masculine appearance. Thankfully, she was kept in segregation for one night and returned to the correct estate the following morning. These cases are, fortunately, few and far between. Of course, no woman should face harassment for visiting the toilet or changing room she belongs in. But nor should women have to worry in the first place that a man might be lurking in the bathroom stalls.

I would wager that the transvestigation trend comes from a similar impulse. It’s weird that Macron even feels the need to dignify it with a response. Forcing your wife to submit photos of her pregnancy and God knows what else to a court is surely humiliating for everyone involved. It only gives the gawkers more of what they want. And, in their eyes, it confirms everything they’ve claimed so far. Certainly, whatever goes on in that courtroom is unlikely to change anyone’s mind either way. 

This entire situation is silly beyond belief. There are plenty of very legitimate reasons to criticise Macron—France is crime-ridden, overrun by illegal migration, and unable to respond to voters’ interests or concerns. Spurious speculation that his wife is hiding a penis should be the least of his worries. When Macron has so many real problems to deal with, why bother obsessing over this nonsense?