In a recent interview, Ségolène Royal1 made a statement to the effect that capitalism has turned everything into a commodity. On the surface, this seems convincing. Furthermore, she denounces the fact that, in today's world, a child's body is reduced to a commercial object. However, she bluntly declares that human nature is rooted in the animal kingdom, asserting that we adopt an attitude similar to that observed in nature.
In her book Mais qui va garder les enfants ?2 [But who will look after the children?], she regrets that young people are absent from public debate and points out that "French society no longer protects these young people, it isolates them, infantilises them, discourages them and silences them." She then speaks of an "anxious generation," the heirs to a world in poor state: one in ten children reportedly wants to commit suicide. Faced with this picture, her political response is based on an educational metaphor: governing a people is like educating a child. And again: to preside is to love, as a mother loves her children, adding that this love must be unconditional, as in the animal world. The relation here is clear: it is based on the biological model, on the equation of humans with animals. However, while denouncing the commodification of childhood and the exclusion of young people from public debate, does his discourse not itself perpetuate a form of foreclosure of the parlêtre, by reducing humans to their biological dimension? And isn't there, in this reduction, a way of denying the very dignity of speech?
In a ten-minute interview, Royal makes formulaic remarks on sex, on how to govern and on education. Her Royal method even proposes establishing a right to beauty for children, defined as an ideal of coherence and a fundamental right: access to carefreeness, tranquillity and music. She adds that the first sign of depression is a fall in the birth rate. Thus, everything is linked in a logic where political function, maternal love and biological reproduction are seamlessly intertwined. But then, how can we make the political class hear the message that there is no sexual relation? How can we support this hole in discourse – this place where love, sex and speech do not overlap – in the face of ever-renewed attempts to fill this gap with an ideal of coherence?
[1] Ségolène Royal is a senior French civil servant and politician, former Minister for Family and Children and former Minister for Education. She was interviewed on the programme "C dans l'air" on 4 November 2025 on France 2. The text is based on this interview and on her book, Mais qui va garder les enfants ?.}
[2] S. Royal, Mais qui va garder les enfants ?, Paris: Fayard, 2025.
