The French Stereotypes: Smoking

Picture, for a minute, what you imagine the typical Frenchman to be like. He's probably named Pierre or Jacques, wearing a beret and sporting a mustache. A cigarette is dangling from his mouth and he's got a baguette in one hand and the hand of his girlfriend in the other, with whom he was just smootching quite publicly - and unashamedly - in the park. He likes art and poetry and has a distaste for Americans and the way their "culture" is invading his own. After six weeks in France, I am happy to report that most of these stereotypes are true! Lets start with cigarettes.

Yup, the French like to smoke. According to the World Health Organization, 34% of French men and 23% of French women smoke. Compare that to 26% of American men and 20% of females. The numbers, however, don't really tell the story. In America, we've been told for years (for me, it's been my whole life) at school, through the media, etc, that smoking is bad. Smoking will kill you. Any American that picks up smoking in today's day and age is really an idiot, given how our society has clearly sent this message. As a result, smokers in America are largely ostracized when they smoke. We can't smoke indoors. We have to stay a certain distance from the building. We've been so well educated on the dangers of second hand smoking, that non-smokers steer well clear of anyone smoking. So you see smokers huddled in little packs, taking a drag behind a building. It's become embarrassing to be a smoker in America. Not so in France. My first week here, I remember thinking how brazenly everyone was smoking, as if smoking were some kind of crime that should only be done in private, or at least in a place somewhat out of view. Of course it's not, but that's almost the way it seems at home. Here in France, while smoking has been banned indoors, everyone at an outdoor cafe table is lighting up, young mothers push a stroller with one hand while their cigarette is in the other, and high school kids smoke without consequence in front of the high school. In short, smoking has largely become socially unacceptable in America while it remains very much a visible part of French culture.