Power and Sex

May 25, 2011 Editorial

Henry Kissinger, who knew a thing or two about power in his days, once pithily remarked that power was the ultimate aphrodisiac. Nothing that has happened before and since – culminating with the tawdry arrest of the head of the IMF for attempted rape – has disproven his thesis. Through the ages, once ensconced in power, the aphrodisiacal effluvia has overwhelmed so many incumbents that droit de seigueur – the customary right of the feudal lord to bed the vassal’s wife – seems to be extended to any woman in their orbit.
The case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn is as good an illustration as any. A past Finance Minister of France, immensely wealthy and considered a viable Socialist candidate to run for their presidency next year, he has long enjoyed power. As soon as the news of the allegations by the Gambian immigrant chambermaid that Strauss-Kahn had violently forced her to perform oral sex on him in his US$3000 per night hotel penthouse emerged, his sordid past spilled out.
His first two marriages ended on charges of infidelity. A French writer, the goddaughter of his second wife, announced she would be filing a complaint about being sexually assaulted by him almost a decade ago.
Three years ago, an affair with a subordinate member of staff resulted in an internal IMF investigation, concluding that while Strauss-Kahn had not abused his position he had shown “poor judgment”. The woman maintained that although their relationship was consensual, she felt coerced; she also warned investigators that he was “a man with a problem that may make him ill-equipped to lead an institution where women work under his command.”
Two other employees of the Sofitel Hotel in New York told investigators that Mr Strauss-Kahn made advances to them during his stay last weekend. Soon after he checked into his suite, he called the front desk and asked the receptionist to join him for a drink, according to a US news website. While Mr Strauss-Kahn was head of the IMF, an official paid “hush money” to a woman working at another Washington-based international institution to secure her silence over an affair. There are so many instances of sexual harassment by Strauss-Kahn that he has been the butt of public jokes by comedians.
The question has to be asked, what is it that motivates these men towards promiscuous sex? Psychologists who have studied the phenomenon consider the aphrodisiacal effect of power as part of a wider syndrome they label “the paradox of power” especially as it relates to modern power holders that actually have to work to achieve their positions. As they claw up the power ladder in whatever institution they find themselves, most leaders jettison the qualities that earned them their impetus to begin with.
From being honest, outgoing, polite they become reckless, impulsive and rude.
In a summary that most Guyanese who have encountered government or corporate big-wigs could relate to, several studies have found that authority makes individuals less considerate to the problems, concerns and feelings of others. They invariably do not consider others around them in individual terms but as stereotypes – which are most times not exactly flattering.
And we arrive at their treatment of women. The old stereotypes of women as the “weaker sex” meant to “serve” and “satisfy” the desires of men abound: in the modern parlance they see women as simply “sex objects”. Additionally, even though these persons more often than not are fully aware of the moral norms to which they ought to adhere, their sense of power makes them rationalise away any qualms that may arise.
Here in Guyana, there have been persistent reports of local Strauss-Kahns who routinely abuse the power of their office – especially governmental office. In one particularly egregious instance the fifteen year-old daughter of one individual was allegedly raped by a “big one” and had to be spirited away to Canada so as not to be further harassed.
The condign action of the New York police is a standing indictment on their Guyanese counterparts. The buck stops with enforcement of the law.

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