I think it goes well past desire... or it's desire that has been so mutilated and deformed that it has turned into something much worse.
What I've observed on the street is young men shouting at women with hatred in their voices; referring to others as sluts and whores.
I'm sure it's a natural consequence of telling young men and women that the intense desires they are feeling are sinful and will condemn them to hell: they hate themselves, so they hate those who they see as temptation.
In France, what is happening on the streets is mainly about young men from a Muslim background. From what I've read, 50 years ago in the UK it was Irishmen: different religion, same cause. It has nothing to do with Weinstein et al, except that they believe they can get away with it. The kids are running in gangs and taking pleasure in doing what they've been told they mustn't do... the Weinsteiners have learnt that they have so much power that women will not say no. There is sense in the phrase "drunk on power"
As for Deneuve... it's a long time since she was a young woman walking across a public space in the less exclusive areas of a big city.
Of course, religion has a part when you're talking about a clash of cultures, but the Catholic Irish and the Baptist Americans and Australians to which latters' tender mercies I was exposed from the age of about twelve, though they are diametrically opposed on religious grounds, just as the internecine-warring Moslems, they are united in the condemnation of pleasure. I simply don't get it: if it boils down to nothing more than the dangers of pregnancy, why the hell don't they just say so and nobody in their right mind would argue. But no, it gets mixed up with all manner of different aspects of life. Maybe in the case of the latter grouping, they get what they appear to get as a wrapped package, which might bring with it as many shocks as pleasant surprises. I can understand they might dislike anyone else having the opportunity to try before they buy, as it were. But equally, who can blame them totally when one sees some of the non-Moslem people behave exactly as the cows they sometimes get called by some Moslem hotheads? Life in a holiday resort is quite revealing of one's fellow tribe and it's behaviour patterns when away from home and possible observation.
However, nothing excuses violence and intimidation. There have been notorious cases of gangs of Pakistani-origination men in England abusing young white girls; apparently, though they were eventually tried and jailed, the ethic continues, and it seems that the reason is that the police are afraid to get too close because of the knee-jerk public and press noise about racial discrimination. I mean, as with the stop/search thing, it only happens more to specific groups because the figures show that's where the problems exist to a disproportionate degree. As with security searches at airports, guys and women who look and dress the part are more likely to enjoy the undivided attention of staff who have historical reasons to think those people enjoy, and think exploding aircraft to be desirable. My son and I used to be very frequent fliers during the early 80s, and we both wore jeans and I a beard. We would be stopped at Glasgow Airport every single time, and I know why: dress codes. I even joked with one officer about it, but he simply smiled and checked the cases thoroughly. I had no beef with that - if we wanted to look like hippies on an Amex card, that was the price we had to be prepared to pay for that pleasure. And no, I'm all
for stringent security at airports.
But Catherine: she doesn't have to be a walker of dingy streets: she was/is in the movie business since forever, and could hardly have escaped the system; her interest in the matter must relate to showbiz as it does for the women in black. Expanded altruism for the lesser-blessed (read less ambitious wannabe showbiz types) women strikes me as nothing more than what Deneuve condemns it for being. Even Mrs Worthington was advised not to let her daughter near the stage!
