DSK, the Maid and the High-class Sociopath

Dominique Strauss-Khan’s arrest a fortnight ago in the alleged rape of a Guinean-born maid at the Sofitel Hotel in New York laid bare the true nature of privilege and power as it has existed in both Europe and America for a long time.  The “Great Seducer” as he is known among many in his native France is alleged to have emerged naked in his hotel room when a Guinean-maid arrived to clean his room and sexually assaulted her.  Now I’m not looking to convict the man before he’s had a fair trial, however, his history of assaulting and coercing women does bear closer examination on why we as a society seem to tolerate it so much.

Sure, he’s wealthy, well-educated, has held some of the most powerful and prestigious posts in the world, but should it give him carte blanche to harass women whenever it suits him? His checkered history with women, the assault on the writer Tristane Banon, the coercion of a subordinate into a relationship during his time at the IMF, and his rumored attempts to proposition women on staff at the hotel really call into question his judgment and our willingness as a culture to reward this kind of behavior. Now apparently it has led to this, an outright assault on a struggling hotel maid where his DNA (I read semen) has been found on her uniform.

What is even more disturbing is the idea of how deluded a sixty-two year old, short, not very attractive man must be to think he can solicit and pressure women with impunity and not be seen as utterly pathetic says a lot about how much we appear to worship wealth and power both here and in Europe. What is even more disturbing is the idea that people on his behalf, after being unable to get to her through the justice system have actually been approaching her extended family back in Guinea, trying to buy her silence with promises of a big payout.

It’s obvious right away that this man is a sociopath, unable to empathize with the feelings of women who might regard his attempts to solicit women for sexual favors with anything other than disgust and that he has to be stopped. I’d like to know how his wife can stay with this monster knowing just how lecherous he has been known to behave.