Why Bilal is a real man

Donald Trump's inauguration will happen soon.  In spite of being a macho man, he won a clear victory in the electoral college vote (with liberals continuing to go on about how he lost the popular vote) over Hillary Clinton, who I and many others are glad to see the back of.  Traditional masculinity has come under attack in recent years.  I am a super-attractive, glamorous and successful woman and I have no objections to women being like me, but I always found real men more attractive than the emasculated men we seem to see these days.

I was recently reading an article about the marks of Christian manhood that talked about marks of Christian manhood and it got me thinking about how Bilal is every bit the real man I desired.  The marks they gave were: -
1. Spiritual maturity sufficient to lead a wife and children.
2. Personal maturity sufficient to be a responsible husband and father.
3. Economic maturity sufficient to hold an adult job and handle money.
4. Physical maturity sufficient to work and protect a family.
5. Sexual maturity sufficient to marry and fulfill God's purposes.
6. Moral maturity sufficient to lead as example of righteousness.
7. Ethical maturity sufficient to make responsible decisions.
8. Worldview maturity sufficient to understand what is really important.
9. Relational maturity sufficient to understand and respect others.
10. Social maturity sufficient to make a contribution to society.
11. Verbal maturity sufficient to communicate and articulate as a man.
12. Character maturity sufficient to demonstrate courage under fire.
13. Biblical maturity sufficient to lead at some level in the church.
Bilal demonstrated 1. in his leadership of Sunday School classes and his informal mentoring of various other boys inside and outside the church (e.g. his boxing club) and demonstrated 2. in countless situations.  He has demonstrated both 3. and 4. with his day job with "Le Trom de Marseille" (as he calls it) and his accumulation of a fortune through shrewd online investments in shares.  He demonstrated 5. by refusing physical contact with unrelated women, which included holding hands with me during courtship (obviously, I learned on the wedding night what he had been labouring diligently to keep under control).  He has demonstrated 6. and 7. through his prolonged willingness to stand apart from the world and its evil practices at whatever cost to his own popularity.  He has demonstrated 8. by how passionately he carries out his church activities and is able to shield himself against outside distractions where necessary.  He has demonstrated 9. by how much joy he has brought to other believers in their fellowship with him, in spite of how shy he is.  He demonstrates 10. by his immense labours within the church and community to spread the Gospel message and help keep young La Savine boys out of trouble.  11., 12. and 13 are not that obvious, given his shy character, but he never shirks his duty to speak about the Gospel when called.

Beyond these issues that are, without doubt, the most important ones, he has shown himself to be a real man by both secular and religious criteria and I am glad I have him, rather than several other half-men who have approached me, but not demonstrated anything an it-girl like myself required.  Bilal has demonstrated manhood in every department.

His early life was spent in the Sahara Desert as a Touareg herdsman.  This is physical hardship at its best: - fiercely hot days, cold nights, defending his family's livestock from predators etc.  He lived in La Savine (probably Europe's toughest housing estate) upon arrival in France and only ceased living there when we returned from our honeymoon.  He feels rather lost in the immense luxury of my penthouse apartment overlooking the Vieux Port, but he likes the proximity of a metro station ("Réga du Trom" as he would say).  All these things have contributed to make him the rugged man he is today.

Bilal has been into strongman training since he arrived in France and came across a Marseille gym during early exploration of the city.  He was not old enough to be allowed in, so he occasionally watched from outside and sought advice from members as they left the gym.  When he was old enough, he took out gym membership, doing odd jobs to earn money to pay for this and other paraphernalia associated with developing the strength necessary for strongman contests (this was before online share trading became common).  He very quickly gained in weight.  He was a fairly shy child, preferring to sit in a corner reading the Holy Bible and other religious literature during break times and was therefore often the victim of bullying (I often used to see him with bruises on his face at church).  However, this soon ceased after he started gaining weight and physical strength.

I think that the ability and desire to have children (coupled with acceptance of all the responsibilities parenthood entails) is a mark of manhood.  If one is among the few people gifted for celibacy, fine, but otherwise, I think avoiding having children (apart from being against Psalm 127:4) is a mark that a man wants to live a freewheeling bachelor lifestyle and is, in reality, a boy rather than a man.  On the occasions before our wedding I mentioned this subject with Bilal, he always said abruptly, "Children are an inheritance from the Lord and I want to conceive as many as the Lord, in His almighty grace, will allow me to conceive".  Sure enough, when we got married, he wasted absolutely no time.  I admit he isn't always politically correct about this: - the Sunday at church after the test confirmed my second pregnancy, I overheard him say with enormous pride to his church "homies", "I've got her pregnant again!  Yes!", punching the air and behaving with the excitement of a football fan whose team has just scored a goal (in a way, he had scored a goal himself).  Someone in the group of friends (hip-hop people, of course: - the image below is from Wikimedia commons and does not depict him or anyone else we know) immediately spudded him and said, "Brap-brap-brap!  You're a big man doing that so quickly both times!  Regardless of what feminists think, I am pleased to have a husband who views the ability and willingness to conceive as the height of being a macho man.  I wouldn't want a boy who viewed children as an encumbrance to his freewheeling bachelor lifestyle: - Bilal also views the ability and willingness to conceive and properly raise children to be a mark of manhood: - he is keen to have a third child as soon as possible following the birth of our second.  I am due in a few months and have still not yet accumulated flabber!

In other respects though, he doesn't fulfil traditional macho values.  He does at least half the work of caring for our son, doesn't mind being seen pushing our son in his pram in public and is seen cradling him in church for most of the day: - he certainly takes much more of an interest in our son than pretty much all fathers I know.  He is generally a very quiet and shy character, but with the glut of people with an opinion to publicly express and the dearth of people interested, a few more quiet people in the world wouldn't go amiss!  I agree with most of Tomi Lahren's views, but she seems capable of little besides ranting!  The media needs people who will go out there and dig out stories, rather than just ranting aimlessly about what is there!  My fashion magazine is a great example of how to do this: - it is at the vanguard of fashion trends, not just reporting them, but predicting and defining them!

Here's to looking forward to a very large happy family with Bilal and gloating to women who lose self-control over their diet during pregnancy and have flabber to lose after giving birth!

Real beauty

Following on from my article when I commented on Marine Le Pen's physical beauty (or lack thereof), I thought it would be good to do an article on what I consider to be real beauty, in my position as an expert fashion connoisseur and fashion editor and a real heterosexual Frenchwoman.  My magazine makes a point of targeting real beauty.  The fashion industry is regrettably controlled by men who are receievers of swollen goods, which means that a lot of fashion models do not reflect what real heterosexual men and women find beautiful.

I am not talking about plus-sized models.  I find that look utterly atrocious.  I would not allow my magazine to feature Tess Holliday (whose tattoos make her look even less attractive), unless I did a special fat-shaming issue!  MDR.  My magazine targets what real men and real women find attractive: - slim hourglass figures for women and muscular physiques for men, which is at odds with the flat-chested women and bony and androgynous-looking men who appear on many catwalks due to the influence of homosexual men in the fashion industry.

Tattoos are not attractive on either gender.  This is due to my view as a Frenchwoman that natural beauty is good and my view as a Christian woman that one's body is a temple of the Holy Spirit (1Corinthians 3:16 and 6:19): - one would not face a holy temple and so neither should one deface one's body (granted, the temple in the picture below is an idol temple).

In spite of all my use of the magic phrase "la moitié, s'il vous plaît", I know very well that it is not attractive for a lady to be flat-chested: - hourglass figures are attractive because men are wired up to desire women for childbearing and who have self-discipline.  A narrow waist indicates self-discipline, big hips indicate the ability to carry his offspring and large mammary glands are desired given that that is how she will (in a large proportion of cases) feed his offspring for the first few months of their lives.  I advocate saying "la moitié, s'il vous plaît" at every mealtime, but the bony look is not attractive either: - Mireille Guiliano points out that a Frenchwoman eats three meals a day.

Facelifts also look horrible: - Mireille Guiliano points out in "French women don't get face lifts" exactly what the title says.  Natural beauty works better, in spite of Zoë Williams' gormless rant about the book.  I sincerely hope Donald Trump (rather than Hillary Clinton) wins this week, but Melania/Melanija Trump is a classic example of an older woman who looks a bit like a hallowe'en character on account of apparent facelifts.

The classic example of a lady with this sort of physical beauty is Marilyn Monroe.  Some of my readers might pipe up and say that I have traditionally been very critical of American women and their inability to stay thin.  I say "American women didn't get fat in the 50s" (this blog is now known by the name "Outdated by design").  I don't just do women of the past though.  Even though Marine Le Pen doesn't have much physical beauty, her niece (Marion Maréchal-Le Pen) does: - I love the fact that in spite of her physical beauty and political success, she has spoken to promote the beauty of motherhood and generally promotes conservative values (she was a prominent marcher in anti-same-sex marriage rallies).  She represents Vaucluse's 3rd constituency, which is centred around Carpentras, which is very easy to reach from Marseille using a connecting TER service via Avignon TGV station and the recently-reopened Carpentras branch.  I would love to do a whole magazine devoted to her, given her position as a conservative woman who is a pretty face and much, much more, but the danger is that this would attract protests from old-school feminists who grumble about the lack of attention given to the jobs a woman does in favour of her appearance, MDR.

The fashion industry also does not understand what real beauty is in men either.  When I attend fashion shows, I constantly have expressions of disapproval when I see bony androgynous male models walking past me on the catwalk.  Real women such as myself do not find that at all attractive.  Real women want men to be real men: - it is our ungodly world that seeks to blur gender boundaries.

I simply don't see the point of six-packs either, as they are simply not reflective of a man's abdominal strength.  I am not all that enthused by well-defined muscles either.  I have heard stories of men participating in bodybuilding contests having 2% body fat and it being painful to walk, given the absence of fat on the feet: - I struggle to see what the point of this is.  If a man wants high physical strength, he needs to eat accordingly: - strongmen should not say, "la moitié, s'il vous plaît".  I much prefer the sort of body that men participating in strongman contests have: - big muscles, but not necessarily well-defined.  To get that look, men often have to do odd things like not drinking for two days prior to a photo shoot to get that look.  Also, a layer of fat is useful for balancing boulders on one's chest during strongman contests, MDR.

I also love beards, as they are a prominent indicator of masculinity: - I have known Bilal since he was a little boy and he has had a beard as long as he has had facial hair.  He has always regarded this as an open indication of Christian masculinity, firstly because of how beards generally only appear on men and secondly given biblical verses on the subject.  Bilal has always regarded cutting off a man's beard without his consent as a very egregious act.  I am aware of an incident in school where a school bully attempted to cut his beard, which resulted in the bully getting a broken jaw (Bilal has always been generally a quiet and pensive character) and Bilal running away into some nearby forests and not turning up at home until after dark.  He is not normally argumentative, but I am aware of him having arguments with his school (over presentation issues) and his family (once they found out the beard was the result of his perception of it as an indicator of Christian masculinity).

I don't publish photos of Bilal or our son here because he has said he is not happy about it (I fully accept and appreciate his desire to maintain our family privacy), so I obviously need to talk about men in the public eye (or, at the very least, with online profiles) I perceive to be attractive (admittedly not as attractive as Bilal) in order to illustrate what I perceive to be real beauty in men.  One man I would like my magazine to do a feature on some day is Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, a.k.a. "The Mountain" in "Game of Thrones" in spite of his tattoos and weather-beaten face (no surprise, as he is from Iceland, a country with extreme weather).  One Londoner I have come across online who shows non-white men how to look good in a beard is the Adventist Andrew Fuller.  However, apart from Bilal, the man I would most like my magazine to do a feature on is Englishman Eddie Hall, the first person to deadlift 500kg under strongman conditions (which nearly killed him).  Of men in the public eye, he is strong (pun intended) in every category: - muscular body (no six-pack present or needed), young-looking face and a great beard.

Our possible first female president

According to polls, there is a very serious chance that Marine Le Pen could win the French presidential election.  With the day of the presidential election in the USA a matter of days away, I thought I would reflect on Marine Le Pen and what it would be like to have her as our first female president.

Firstly, as a religious woman, I am at the very least uneasy about the idea of a female leader.  1Timothy 2:12: - "But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence."  Liberals would say that we aren't bound by something as unfashionable and last-season as the Holy Bible.  Halfway conservatives say this rule only applies to leadership positions within the church.

For practical reasons, the issue of men reporting to women is not an issue with my magazine, as it has no male employees, given the type of men who tend to be interested in fashion, who would never feel at home at my magazine (receivers of swollen goods, in other words).  My fashion magazine is all about clothing that Christians would feel entirely comfortable wearing and which is distinctly for one gender or the other (no androgynous clothing, an example of which is above): - this idea of "non-binary" is thoroughly wicked and contradicts "He made them male and female" (Genesis 5:2, Matthew 19:4 and Mark 10:6).  

It is possible for women to be leaders, but still under the rightful authority of their husbands.  This is reputedly the case with Queen Elizabeth II, who is a queen regnant (i.e. a queen in her own right, not a queen by virtue of her marriage to a king).  It is understood that her husband Prince Philip (whose politically incorrect comments I like) makes the important decisions on family matters.  It is the same in my household: - I am doing very well with my fashion magazine, but I joyfully render obedience to Bilal in accordance with Ephesians 5:22-24, who in turn does a very good job of fulfilling his obligations in Ephesians 5:25 (nobody is perfect: - if they were, they would not need a saviour).  Laws in virtually every country in the world guarantee my right to make my own decisions on this one, but I have so far been happy to waive this right and let Bilal make the decisions on when we try for children, for instance.

That subject covered, let me turn my attention to another very important issue: - Marine Le Pen is badly overweight!  I had hoped that if we had a female president, we would have somebody who is a quintessential example of female beauty in France.  Marie-Ségolène Royal (who thankfully lost to Nicolas Sarkozy in the 2007 presidential election) is a good example of an attractive female French politician.  I asked Bilal what he thought, to which he replied that whilst he didn't view her as being "well buff" like me, she is "reasonably fit".  Zoë Williams, in her rant entitled "Cherchez la femme", gave several good examples of attractive female French politicians who know how to dress.  With all the attractive women who exist in France, it is a shame Marine Le Pen doesn't look like she knows much about how to look nice, though admittedly, her niece Marion Maréchal-Le Pen is also "quite fit" in Bilal's estimation and has a nice figure in my estimation as well.

In terms of her politics, I much prefer the National Front's political positions when they are compared with other major political parties.  I am aware that they particularly appeal to Pied-Noirs (or "Pied Renois", as Bilal calls them).  Islam is the great enemy of what France stands for, though admittedly, the traditional French church (the Church of Rome) is not great either.  I am proud of France's history in the reformation, e.g. the Huguenots, John Calvin etc and am aware that many reformed congregations have existed in the vicinity of Strasbourg over the years.  Granted, there might be potential converts from Islam (like Bilal) coming into the country, but on balance, it would still be great to protect what is left of France's Christian heritage and reform it, bringing about a genuine religious revival in France.  The Le Pen family is very good at standing up to establishment figures who do their utmost to stop France being governed by real French people for real French people.

Marine Le Pen is certainly a very powerful and talented public speaker: - we need such people to put our cause across to the people.  I remember the famous rant she delivered against our commie socialist president François Hollande.  She seemed a little like Zoë Williams, who wrote a long rant about how women can supposedly only enter French politics if they have a powerful relative.  Honestly!  Zoë Williams rants about our great nation not giving women a chance unless they are thin, but yet when a fat woman is in the upper echelons of French politics, she continues to complain!

In conclusion, in spite of her lack of physical beauty, I am keen to see Marine Le Pen win next year's presidential election and make France great again.