French Farmers Promote Soft Cheese With Soft Porn

THE FARM, France—It might be sexist, but there seems to be no shortage of calendars adorned with photos of beautiful women. Old-timers will remember the famous Ridgid Tool girls, but in more recent times, we've seen the "Join the Scream" calendar from Maryam Namazie featuring the women of freethoughtblogs.com (including former AVN contributor Saskia Vogel) and "Pin-Up Girls" from Girlfriends Films, featuring models from their popular retro series of the same name, and last year, similar fare from The Screaming O, plus in 2010, sexy women bloggers courtesy of NYC Sexbloggers. So with all that "pretty girl" competition, how can a bunch of French cheese producers in their country's heartland possibly market their products? Introducing From'Girls 2013, a collection of beauties assembled into for calendar by Véronique Richez-Lerouge and photographed by Philippe Serieys, each with her own month and more importantly, each with her own cheese. "Launched in 2006, the From'Girls calendar ('from' being short for 'fromage' or cheese) is now something of an institution according to one regional daily," wrote FRANCE 24 blogger Sophie Pilgrim, somewhat disapprovingly. "The concept is pretty straightforward, if not necessarily appetizing. The calendar features 12 women, clad in what looks like the weekend wardrobe of a 40-something with a penchant for rural swinging. Posing provocatively and slathered in make-up, the only seriously abnormal aspect of the pin-up calendar is that each of the women is clutching a giant slab of stinking cheese." Hey, what's 40-something swingers to Pilgrim are just good-looking babes to us Americans—and the article from the "regional daily" she references seems to agree. "These pretty girls are devoted to the gourmet jewels of Pont-Eveque, Camembert, Franche-Comté, Brillat-Savarin and the other Roquefort cheeses. Uniting gastronomy, French culture and the beauty of the French countryside, the calendar is on sale at fromages de terroirs.com," wrote a reporter for the Eastern Republic website. "Profits from its sale allow the Association [of Regional Cheeses] to continue to advocate for the protection of heritage French cheese.