In my college days at a state university in the Midwest, few among my cohort group smoked cigarettes. Not that we didn’t put our health at risk in a multitude of ways, but we had gotten the message about the health risks of smoking and did not want to blacken our pink lungs and shorten our life expectancies for the sake of tobacco.
When I began to frequent France as a young adult in the 70's, it seemed that almost everyone smoked Marlboros or Camels. The French had not gotten the message–or decided to ignore it. They were still caught up in the romance of smoking that seduced 1940's movie viewers. It was associated with personal flair, panache, élan, allure, "cool," or whatever you prefer to call it. French celebrities like Serge Gainsbourg kept the romance with smoke alive. When you smoked, you were thumbing your nose at your mortality and showing that you "got" the irony of life. A cigarette was a desired accessory, like a stylish watch. The gestures associated with smoking became comforting rituals. Smoke itself allowed for creativity, as you could use it to form patterns in the air. Smoking filled the pauses between courses in a leisurely French meal. It was also the welcomed occasion for breaks from work or classes.
As an English teaching assistant in a French lycée, I shared an apartment with Guillemette, a law student who would place an ashtray on the edge of the tub and chain-smoke while taking a bath. She explained in her raspy voice that she profoundly enjoyed this small pleasure. Although I knew better, I took up smoking during this period, figuring I was immersed in second-hand smoke all day anyway, so why not? I would quit when I moved back to the US. The nicotine seemed to help with alertness and focus during long spells of reading and writing. After returning to the US, I persisted in smoking. By then, smokers were beginning to be segregated, but I continued to spend time with French friends who smoked. Losing this habit was not going to be easy.
Fortunately, I was helped in my quest to quit smoking when I met my then-future husband. He said he would never want to be involved romantically with a smoker. I hid the nasty habit at first, but soon knew that I would have to make a choice. I started smoking in order to conform, and quit smoking for love.
After quitting, most people revile smoking and I was no exception. I had crawled out of ashtray culture, so why couldn’t everybody else? I sympathized with those who had a long-standing addiction to tobacco, but had no patience for young people who picked up the habit knowing its dangers for the same stupid reason I had–to conform to the behavior of their more "adult" friends.
Today few of my French friends smoke, but I have dared to go against the grain of French society by asking strangers to observe no-smoking areas in restaurants and public places in France. As David Applefield puts it, "visibly bothered non-smokers are perceived as downright wrong, and your Anglo-Saxon attempts to protect yourselves from passive exposure to proven carcinogens is seen as typical of a hypocritical America that drops carpet bombs with ease and approves the execution of prisoners by lethal injection, but gets hysterical if some guy lights up a Lucky Strike in a public place" (http://www.paris-anglo.com). One is still at a disadvantage in France if avoiding smoke is a high priority.
But the message is beginning to penetrate and smoking is starting to appear déclassé . There are now no-smoking restaurants in France. Smoking has finally come to be seen as a vice by a people that is pretty self-disciplined when it comes to other common vices, such as over-indulgence in food and alcohol. If France ceases to be a smoker-friendly culture, one can only wonder which vice might come along to fill the void.
I suspect that cell phone manners are going to be the next social battle in France. I saw people on their "portables" all over the place. There were so many conversations in public places, on the metro, in the stores, etc -- even more than I see here in the states I think. The only place I didn't see people on their phones was in the restaurants. At least in France some things are still sacred.
I was a smoker for quite a while too. Good job quitting - it is hard, isn't it?
Posted by: Michele | June 14, 2005 at 09:24 AM