Good news, everyone. If you wanted more ammunition with which to needle French reactionaries, the French Navy has just handed us a new angle of attack:

We’re already discussing the gender of France’s next-gen aircraft carrier (construction to begin in 2031), but we’re doing it patriotically.

See, French ships are to be treated as male, even when they have an originally feminine name. So you have la liberté (the concept of freedom) but le Liberté (a ship). La Normandie (a French region) but le Normandie (a ship). La France (the country) but le France (a ship).

France has announced earlier this week that their new aircraft carrier will be named France Libre.

So… according to tradition, it will be le France Libre, right?

Nope. The Navy has already made it known that the name is too sacred for its gender to succumb to naval tradition.

La France Libre it is, then.