FRENCH PUBLISHERS AND booksellers shed their clothes this week in protest against a campaign to censor a controversial children’s book.
Tous à poil (Everybody Gets Naked) aims to teach young children about body image by showing them that everyone looks different underneath their clothes.
The book – which is available on Amazon.fr – contains a variety of illustrations of naked ‘everyday people’, from mums and dads to bakers and police officers.
The Independent reports that French politician Jean-François Copé appeared on national television last week to condemn the publication, declaring that his “blood ran cold” when he read it.
The leader of the main centre-right opposition party argued that Tous à poil was being forced upon young children by an “ideologically rigid” government, and said it had no place in schools or libraries.
French publishers and booksellers responded to the criticisms by launching a campaign of their own: Everybody Get Naked Against Censorship.
The Local says the group sent out a press release and a photo of them posing nude with a variety of books covering their nether regions, which spread rapidly through French national media.
Charles Delcourt, the man who took the photo, later uploaded it to Facebook in celebration of the campaign’s success.
Guess that’s definitely one way to bare your soul: The politician has yet to reply.
