A Chimpanzee in Heat
As Steven Erlanger and Katrin Bennhold reported yesterday on the website of The New York Times, when Nicholas Sarkozy nominated Dominique Strauss-Kahn to be head of the International Monetary Fund back in 2007, Jean Quatremer – who was the Brussels correspondent for Libération – questioned the wisdom of the decision in a blogpost, warning that the man’s “rapport” with women might turn out to be a problem. He is “too insistent,” he observed. “He often comes close to harassment.” This is “a weakness known by the media, but which nobody mentions. (We are in France.) The I.M.F., however, is an international institution with Anglo-Saxon morals. A misplaced gesture, a too specific allusion, and it will be a media scramble.”
Quatremer had no need to say more. Everyone in the French political class knew that the man universally known as DSK had a problem. If anything, Quatremer’s description of it was a grotesque understatement. Consider the case of Tristane Banon. In 2002, when this young journalist was working on a book, she arranged an interview with Strauss-Kahn – which, as it happened, took place in an empty apartment. As she put it in a television interview five years thereafter,
He wanted me to hold his hand while he answered [my questions]. He said, “I can't do it if you don't hold my hand.” After the hand, it was the arm, and after the arm it was a bit further, so I stopped him. We ended up fighting . . . It was more than a couple of slaps, I kicked him, he opened my bra, tried to open my jeans . . . It finished very badly.
Banon, who described DSK as “a chimpanzee in heat,” reportedly contacted a lawyer at the time of the incident, and he told her that he had a file detailing numerous incidents of a similar sort in which her assailant had been involved. But, in the end, she chose not to make a formal complaint – for fear that, by doing so, she would put an end to her career as a journalist in France. At the time of her television interview, French actress Daniéle Evenou reportedly remarked on another TV show, "Who hasn't been cornered by Dominique Strauss-Kahn?"
As things stand, it does not look good for DSK. The maid whom he purportedly assaulted in his $3000-a-day suite at the Sofitel in New York picked him out in a police lineup, and the story she tells is harrowing. If he is convicted of rape, this might well get in the way of his running as a Socialist for the Presidency of France. It is hard to run a campaign from a jail cell in New York.
On the other hand, if DSK beats the rap, as I noted in a comment on Rob Long’s post yesterday, the incident might give his “political career a boost.” In France, Strauss-Kahn is fondly known as lapin chaud – “hot rabbit” – which is, I suppose, something like what an American masseuse had in mind not so long ago when she described a former Presidential candidate in this country as “a crazed sex poodle.” The only difference is that the French are amused by shenanigans of this sort. The last time I was in Paris, a political scientist there whom I know said disapprovingly with regard to the romance between Nicholas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni, “We have had Presidents before who were lovers, but never, until now, have we had a President in love.”
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Comments:
Apr '11
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
If this behavior passes as seduction in France, I feel quite badly for French women. Seduction implies charm and persuasion, not physical attack. I can understand forgiving a too foward individual for flirty suggestive talk. Chasing an unwilling maid around a hotel room and locking her in the bathrooom all whilst naked - Naw, not charming in the least - just gross and grossly inappropriate.
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
Much as I love the phrase and the headline, Paul, my passion for zoological precision compels me to point out that Banon is confused, biologically speaking--only female chimpanzees go into heat.
May '10
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
"Chimp in heat," "hot rabbit," "crazed sex poodle." ... What a missed opportunity that we never did any better than "Bubba" for Clinton. Dang.
Jul '10
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
I can see why Roman Polanski is a hero in France.
May '10
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
This is the same IMF that bounced Paul Wolfowitz (eeeeevil neocon Bush alumnus) from the director position for far less (having a relationship - which he fully disclosed to the IMF board - with a staff member, who received a raise during his tenure, in compliance with all personnel policies). Why are we still funding this organization as of today, then?
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
He's accused of assault and attempted rape. I know I was the one joking about calling this "impropriety," but these charges go way, way beyond 'inappropriate."
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
I know, I know -- but I could not resist lifting the phrase. This will be a test of the American judicial system. Are the rich and famous above the law? Stay tuned.
Apr '11
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
He's accused of assault and attempted rape. I know I was the one joking about calling this "impropriety," but these charges go way, way beyond 'inappropriate." · May 16 at 10:12am
Right. That's why I called his behavior grossly inappropriate. I guess I should have qualifed further grossly and criminal.
Edited on May 16, 2011 at 8:36pmMay '10
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
Paul A. Rahe
I know, I know -- but I could not resist lifting the phrase. This will be a test of the American judicial system. Are the rich and famous above the law? Stay tuned. · May 16 at 11:03am
James Taranto points to an earlier quote that was more biologically accurate. "A rutting chimpanzee." One of DSK's allies in Brussels has said "In puritanical American [sic], infiltrated by rigorous Protestantism, financial misdeeds are far more tolerated than pleasures of the flesh."
While not a rigorous Protestant, I would echo another Brussels native, Hercule Poirot, who once severely told a suspect "I disappove of murder." I disapprove of rape, bitterly clinging to the idea that sex should be mutual. Hopelessly romantic, I know. But the scene described, for the benefit of Whoopi Goldberg, is rape-rape. Not even close.
Jun '10
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
Actually it was the World Bank which is traditionally run by an American, whereas the IMF is run by a European.
Jul '10
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
It always amazes me that France is held up as some kind of citadel of enlightenment by the same dolts who are always going on about how racist and sexist America is.
Our indispensable James Lileks was spot-on when he once wrote that France manages to combine the ethics of Red China with the moral reputation of Tibet.
Jan '11
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
(In France at least) I now understand why some Jewish Men traditionally start their day praying, "Thank God I was not born a Woman". Where are the French Fathers and the French Husbands.
When trying to get my last name spelled right by a clerk or phone merchant I would proudly say, "that's France, like the country". As the father of three daughters and the grandfather of five granddaughters I will have to rethink using that phrase.
Aug '10
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
I would caution folks about judging too soon--remember the Duke rape case. However, DSK does appear to have a reputation for unseemly and perhaps criminal behavior that lends credibility to the alleged victim's charges. If the allegations are true, it would make the statements of support, including phrases such as "pleasures of the flesh", truly nauseating. The extent to which the Left forgives their leaders' abuse of women is revolting.
Nov '10
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
That's true up to a point. The problem is that the statements of support don't care whether he's guilty or not. Even if he is guilty it will change nothing, the French will still admire what he did and deride us "puritanical Americans" for daring to shove our repressed morality on such a "great man."
Aug '10
Re: A Chimpanzee in Heat
I now understand that the legal defense is that sex occurred, but it was consensual. To me (I am an observer, not a juror), this is equivalent to a confession. The idea that a hardworking, married, immigrant maid was seduced by a randy senior citizen at her workplace is absurd. The idea that DSK's political enemies set him up by planting the hotel employee for this purpose strains credulity to the breaking point. It seems France's willingness to entertain conspiracy theories rivals that of the Middle East.