I mean hey ... come on ... If Strauss-kahn could afford $3000 hotel suite, then why not

[99th_Monkey]

simply also shell out another $1000 for a hooker?

... instead of molesting and raping a freaking hotel maid?

It kinda doesn't make very good sense when I think about it.

unless maybe he was on crack or something? :shrug:

[joshcryer]

1. Part of me thinks he was actually expecting a hooker.

Possibly even thought it was a role play.

[LisaL]

4. Considering he had to leave for lunch very soon thereafter, I sincerely

doubt he ordered up a hooker, and then confused hotel maid for a hooker.

[joshcryer]

9. I dunno, he could be a quick lay.

BTW, I'm not in any way excusing his atrocious behavior, it's just hard for me to grasp someone doing this, he had to have been somewhat mad, either going on a power trip or something.

[TorchTheWitch]

8. a surprise "role play" in the hotel maid's uniform with a cleaning trolly?

And very obviously NOT agreeing to any sex and without being paid up front???

Pfffffttttt...

Why the fuck are so many disgusting excuses being made concerning the allegations against this guy???

[joshcryer]

11. Whoa, whoa, hold up.

No defense at all of his behavior, the idea that he would pay a hooker to allow him to role play a rape is just as sickening in my mind. As I said to the other poster, it is hard for me to understand any sort of sanity in the act he committed. Even with a power trip it's hard to understand.

[TorchTheWitch]

38. so why are you coming up with outrageous scenarios

that attempt to make it into something far more implausible than simple rape?

Given the rape statistics in this country why in the world would anyone not only not be able to fathum that he may very likely have raped this woman but go out of their way to come up with scenarios that are ridiculously implausible and make far LESS sense than a crime of rape having occurred? What does not being able to sympathize with someone committing the crime of rape have to do with it? Do you also need to sypathize with people who commit murder to understand that they do and all too frequently?

[joshcryer]

39. It was a mistake.

Note that I did not say I believed that, but that there was some bit of lingering thought process that did. I see DSK as a very powerful and rich man who has a sexual depravity and he could have hired a hooker to take care of it, but as I have read more and become informed he clearly is deranged.

I really did not mean to imply that he should be absolved for some misidentity. No means no, get off means get off, etc.

[joshcryer]

35. Part of me no longer thinks that at all, btw.

Stupid of me to even say that. I try to rationalize shit too much and clearly the guy is an irrational madman.

[LisaL]

2. Well...just because someone can easily get consensual sex

doesn't mean that's what they want. I don't understand why people can't figure it out that someone might not get the satisfaction out of consensual encounter.

[99th_Monkey]

5. Well, I totally understand that there are weirdos out there

... who gain more pleasure from non-consensual sexual encounters ...

I just have an incredibly difficult time comprehending this I guess.

Maybe that's a blessing in a way.

So non-consensual sex is just one of those things you can't even "buy"
reliably any more?

Really? I guess I'm not quite convinced yet.

[LisaL]

6. How would it be possible to reliably buy non-consensual sex?

I am not convinced of anything either. The results of DNA testing aren't even back yet. But just because someone is rich, doesn't mean they aren't capable of sexual assault.

[99th_Monkey]

17. I completely agree with you.

that "just because someone is rich, doesn't mean they aren't capable of sexual assault" ...

please. Where did I say ever that the rich "aren't capable of sexual assault"??? I didn't.

If anything, in a sense, I think the rich are MORE likely to "presume" sexually upon us "commoners" ... no argument there.

Even if trying to "buy" non-consensual sex is perhaps an oxymoron and counter-intuitive, I think he should have at least
tried to do that, instead of violating an innocent hotel maid.

[cali]

3. um, sexual assault is about power more than anything else

not saying he did it or didn't but rich men do indeed commit sexual assaults.

[99th_Monkey]

12. White Male Entitlement is a deadly disease of the mind & spirit, granted ..

and I'm not saying he did or didn't either.

It was just a simple question.

I appreciate your helping me shed light on the answer. :thumbsup:

[JI7]

15. it's not just white men who sexually assault others, this has nothing to do with race

[99th_Monkey]

20. Well then, you tell me what this is all about.

I never said it was ALL about race, I only referenced "white male privilege" as one way to try to help provide some
possible context or framework for understanding what may or may not be "going on" with this weird tale.

Lecturing me on whether it's about race or not feels a bit off the mark somehow, because I don't even have a
strong opinion one way or the other on that point. :shrug:

[JI7]

23. i just don't see sexual assault as having anything to do with "white male privilege"

[99th_Monkey]

25. Cool. So we disagree. I can live with that. ~nt

[TorchTheWitch]

7. because rape isn't about sex

Amazing that here of all places people still can't seem to grasp this rather simple concept.

[99th_Monkey]

24. You can say rape has NOTHING to do with sex until you are blue in the face

but that doesn't make it true. Sex is at the very least a small part of the equation,
any way you slice it.

Call my naive, but I was simply attempting to ask a rather obvious question, and now
*blewy* all of a sudden, I'm like being attacked, accused of not knowing the difference
between sex and rape, etc. just wow.

[dddem]

34. with all due respect, I assume you've had sex

I am also assuming you've never been raped. it's not the same thing. It's like saying boxing is the same as walking down the street and being assaulted. There are obvious physical similarities, but it's definitely not the same thing.

[99th_Monkey]

42. yes

I have had sex and have also been sexually molested (by older men when I was a teen), and yes they are very different; but to flatly say "sex and rape have nothing to do with one another, they are TOTALLY different things" is absurd. One of my more vivid memories about the assault is being so confused because there was part of me that still enjoyed it, and yet if felt so wrong and so ugly. I don't think it serves to clarify our thinking about this stuff to make exaggerated statements that distort & gloss over all the confusing nuances of sexual assault.

[dddem]

44. I get what you mean,

I also think there is a difference between being molested and being raped. They are both a violation, but(at least in my view)I see rape as a violent, forceful act, whereas molestation usually involves gaining the trust of the victim (which is why it can get so confusing). Can you see my point? Either way, it's a violation, and a crime; I guess we just have a difference of opinion on the level of violence between the two.
Peace.

[99th_Monkey]

45. Yes, that is a useful distinction, between being molested and being raped.

thank you for that.

[Prometheus Bound]

10. After attacking journo Tristane Banon he kept texting her: "Are you scared of me?"

In 2002, a more serious allegation. Tristane Banon, a French journalist, made some rather shocking statements to French online citizen media Agora Vox about an unnamed official later confirmed to be Strauss-Kahn. This, according to Business Insider’s account of the Agora Fox transcript:
He asked for us to meet, and gave me an address I didn’t know. That was surprising because I know a little bit about his life, more or less, where he lives, where his offices are. … But this was nothing of the sort.

I came up in front of the building, parked my car, went up, and it was an empty apartment, completely empty, with a VCR, a TV and a bed. A very beautiful apartment, for a Gentleman of good taste. … He wanted me to hold his hand while he answered, 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. …

It ended very badly, because we ended up fighting … I told him clearly. … We fought on the ground, it was more than a couple of slaps, I kicked him, he opened my bra, tried to open my jeans. … It finished very badly. …

I got out of there and he immediately sent me a text message saying “So, are you scared of me?” … I had said the word “rape” when we were struggling to scare him, and it didn’t seem to scare him, as if he was used to it. After he wouldn’t stop sending me text messages saying “Are you scared of me?”http://hypervocal.com/news/2011/absolute-power-imf-chief-arrested-on-charges-of-sexually-assaulting-nyc-hotel-maid/

[TorchTheWitch]

13. stands to reason there would be more

I suspected this guy was a serial rapist.

[joshcryer]

14. Wow, thank you, that actually helps me understand his mindset, a sociopath at the minimum.

[LisaL]

18. A pity she never contacted police.

And her own mother talked her out of it.

[JI7]

16. sexual assault isn't just about wanting sex

[99th_Monkey]

22. Yes, I know .. sexual assault is more about POWER than about sex.

duh?

but still, aren't there some very pricey "professionals" out there,
who sell whatever kind of sex the "customer" wants?

[notesdev]

19. His 'crack' is unaccountable power

which as IMF head he could exercise over entire nations

a maid was probably less than a nothing to him to use and abuse at his pleasure

[99th_Monkey]

21. I rule nothing out at this point, I'm only asking questions.

It's still "a free country", right?

This story has more weird twists and turns than a snake in the grass,
and I'm still very much in question-asking mode.

[eShirl]

26. exactly -- a rich person would never rape, therefore he is innocent by reason of wealth

:sarcasm:

[99th_Monkey]

27. Oh Please.

I never said that "a rich person would never rape", not even in the freaking ball park.

But one thing I am learning from this DU post, is that there is a LOT of unresolved volatile feminine energy in
the DU field ready to lash out, accuse, insinuate, assume the worst, etc. when it comes to issues of rape and sex.

Which is really ok with me, I guess, but it kinda makes me sad; and I confess that I'm just a little bit surprised,
that's all.

But at least I learned something tonight, which is cool.

[eShirl]

28. it wasn't a quote

[99th_Monkey]

29. I was quoting you sarcastically paraphrasing me. ~nt

[SoCalDem]

30. Opportunity and superiority

This woman was just an opportune object to him..

He was naked, and there she was (expecting to clean his room).

She's a "service individual"...and he expected "service". She was not willing, so he took it..

Powerful rich people take what they want.

[99th_Monkey]

31. I get the picture.

It just makes me sick is all. :puke:

[SoCalDem]

33. and he was probably not paying for the hotel suite

the IMF was.. A man of his status gets things "comped", and when not being comped, they have a credit card that has the bill sent elsewhere for payment.

[sendero]

32. If you aren't aware..

... this guy has a long history of being a horndog, so much so that he's been called out about it before - although the French in general accept more bad behavior of that sort than Americans generally do.

Could this be a set up of some kind? Sure, but based on every thing I've read so far, some of it written long ago, I doubt it.

[99th_Monkey]

36. I am aware, and I tend to agree with you.

I have seen at least some of these other allegations being circulated. The guy seems like a
world-class creep.

It's just so odd to me that with all the so-called "sexual services" available these daze --
only to the very wealthy that is -- that he couldn't have been a little more creative and saved
himself a butt-load of problems.

[sendero]

37. Not to point out the obvious..

.. but for some men, maybe a LOT of men, getting it from a hooker is not nearly as "exciting" as "having your way" with someone.

Just saying.

[riverwalker]

40. *sigh*

Geezus, this is basic stuff. Men do not rape for sex. Rapists attack for power and domination. To control another.
A co-operative high class call girl is not the same, she would provide sex and fantasy, but not control. In fact, she is the one in control.
Raping the housekeeper was to de-humanize her. He has power, he is God. If you to go deeper, read "The Denial of Death" written by Ernest Becker and published in 1973. It was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

[CanonRay]

41. Rape is not about sex

it's about domination and control and use of fear. He's a sociopath. No remorse, cool as a cucumber. Calmly checks out of his hotel and has a leisurly lunch with his daughter after a rape. Ted Bundy coomes to mind.

[99th_Monkey]

43. P)ease see

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=1117621&mesg_id=1121222