When Teacher Turns Lover - Brigitte Trogneux

One of the more interesting aspects of the French Presidential election was the age difference between Emmanuel Macron (39) and his wife Brigitte Trogneux (64).

Usually when there is a large age difference, the man is the elder. This is due to social and biological reasons. An older man usually offers prestige and financial security in exchange for the youth and beauty of the woman. And an older man can still father a child, while an old woman cannot.

While feminists around the world are crying out “You Go Girl!” the women I have spoken to in private admitted that such an age difference is somewhat the dreaded “C” word (creepy). It seems… unnatural for a man to marry a woman his mother’s age.

The backstory is that Brigitte met Emmanuel when he was a 15-year-old student and she was his married, 40-year-old drama teacher. Yeah, that reads like a bad porn story. And if the roles were reversed, you know a 40-year-old male teacher would go to jail for seducing a 15-year-old student.  So much for “male privilege”.