Dominique Strauss-Kahn is in the doo-doo. For someone of his ilk to spend a few days at that most wretched of places, New York’s Rikers Island jail, must have been torture.
His apparently aggressive skirt-chasing ways have finally caught up with him. Now the former chairperson of the International Monetary Fund has to face the wrath of his wife and family, as well as the French nation, for the untold humiliation he has wrought on them.
The courts must still decide whether he forced himself on an unsuspecting Guinean hotel maid or whether the escapades in that room were consensual. But it doesn’t help his cause that he seems to have a reputation for being a bit of sex pest, judging by claims that he tried to force himself on to a French journalist during an interview a few years ago.
The sad thing is that this kind of bullying and intimidation of women for sexual favours by men in powerful positions is common, but it is only ever highlighted when a high-profile individual is involved. More women need to speak out against these unsolicited advances and other such despicable behaviour, otherwise such men will continue to behave as though they have the right to harass and pester women.
I attended a polo match at the weekend. What a lovely way to while away the beginnings of a Highveld winter. I was the guest of an international bank whose staff were wonderfully gracious hosts. The event was posh, yet understated and the company of charming Swiss-based bankers made for a pleasant weekend. The chatter ranged from the weather, the game on the field, the recent local-government elections and inevitably, the downfall of Strauss-Kahn.
We debated the possible candidates for the job and who might be the best replacement for DSK (as he is known), but invariably we returned to the topic of his alleged unseemly behaviour. His reputation as a cad and seducer seems well known and accepted by the French, who, apparently, are less bothered by issues of sexual impropriety than most nations. But this particular incident and the fact that it is before the courts raises other debates about power, race, class and gender.
It was quite astonishing then, that while we lounged in the weak winter sun taking in the game, in walked an elderly white gentleman who tried to pull a DSK. His outfit of tight jeans, cowboy boots with spurs, and a white Stetson to boot, should have signalled that this was a man whose manners would be outside what would be considered polite or decent among this mink-and-manure set. He deliberately sought out the black women at the gathering. He spoke fluent isiZulu and, with that imagined upper hand, I suppose he figured it gave him licence to make inappropriate and sexually suggestive remarks to us, much to our annoyance and disgust.
He told anyone who would listen that he was a wealthy landowner in the area and that some of his ponies were participating in the competition. It was his sense of entitlement and the brazen manner with which he foisted himself on all the black girls that was disturbing. It communicated a slave-owner mentality, that suggested that he could and should do with us as he wished because he was white, wealthy and powerful. My sister and I put him in his place with a few curt words, but he didn’t seem at all embarrassed or ashamed. I shudder to think what his black female staff back at the ranch might have to endure.
I thought then of the poor Guinean house maid who would have walked into a hotel room to do her job, only to be confronted by a naked, wrinkly DSK determined to have his way with her. As a poor black immigrant woman from Africa, the fear and insecurity she must have felt must have been overwhelming, but she was brave enough to report the matter to police.
It is the power dynamic, infused with racism, still permeating society that makes this kind of behaviour so common. If DSK is guilty, then he should rot in jail. This is not just about a randy old man who wanted to have his way, it’s about the humiliation women encounter on a daily basis from men whose power has gone to their heads. Let this be a lesson to them all.