French men: A few observations

• They wear Levi’s. This, I love. Men look sexy in Levi’s.
• They wear jewelry*. Gold and silver chain necklaces and bracelets. This, I don’t love. Not sexy. Not for me, anyway.
• They’re pretty short. This, I don’t really care about one way or another. But as a whole, French men are short. Just an observation.

* Gold chains and silver bracelets may be favored here but wedding rings are not. I’ve heard men here in the office mention their wives or kids and yet they don’t wear a ring. So while having lunch today with two male colleagues, I took the opportunity to ask them about it. They’re both married. One wears a ring, one doesn’t.

My colleague who doesn’t wear a wedding band said that he personally doesn’t like the way a it feels. It’s distracting, uncomfortable, etc, etc. I asked if his wife (of nine years) wears one and he said no—because he doesn’t. That, I love.

But both the ring-wearer and non-ring-wearer said there’s another reason men don’t wear wedding bands. In short, they’re dogs.

So there’s some truth to the French stereotype that there’s beaucoup infidelity going on. My colleagues said men—particularly in their late 20s and 30s—want to be seen as single so they’ll either skip the ring altogether or be especially sleazy and remove it when in mixed company. Nice.