IMF Boss Dominique Strauss Kahn alleged hotel rape

[NinaBrooke]

Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

I hope they throw the book at this scumbag and send a loud message to the rest of the predators that prey on weak women who are too intimidated to press charges.

I don`t buy into the "weak women who are too intimidated to press charges" syndrom. Especially given the Banon character. And her actions and excuses. She clearly used it for her advance. She is not some no name who had all to lose, no, that woman made politics. Therefor for me she is not reliable no matter what happened to her. Most of the time - in my experience - the so called "weak women" benefit immensely from their "weakness" and only someone who has nothing to loose (like the maid in our case) will step up and do something. That is courageous. To defend characters that can be bought for political or wealth reasons or other elitist crap as "weak" and intimidated is beyond my comprehension. Banon is a wealthy elite class born woman that could have sued his ass - but rather she chose to play games and not support another woman in the same position and STEP HER BACK. I think - at least NOW - she should have set an example. There are a lot of women out there who get raped AND sue, so why does it always happen that the rich elitists never sue? Because - they are not weak and defenseless, but use this for power reasons. Plain and simple. If a woman is really weak and defenseless like the MAID in question, she will get so angry and do something about it.
Somebody who does NOT sue for rape clearly has OTHER OPTIONS AVAILABLE and chooses to play games instead. So nothing weak and intimidated there, just playing a game of availabilities.

To Bill Clinton: Perfect proof that americans , same as eruopeans like DSK, are capable of flushing the toilet as well after using it. What`s new??

I assume like in every scenario like this, there are powers that are willing to help hide scenarios and some that are willing to uncover it - for political reasons and power. And DSK is an asshole that probably had it coming and now his political enemies are disecting him to the bone.

Its part of the game. I seriously doubt that anyone - except the hotel maid and her supporters (parents and friends) - is really outraged about what happened, even if its outrageous. But it seems all are playing A BIG FAT PANDEMONIUM GAME - that is what it always comes down too.

Its the same when countries lead warfare (like Yugoslavia or Serbia) pretending they "really care about the poor poor people" while just about stepping in when its - and only when its - politically important in case of wars.
Best example Saddam Hussein: He as always a piece of shit and a dictator and no one seemed to be disturbed when doing business with him, but then when he refused to do what "the west" wanted, they all went nuts about his dictatorship. Too easy.

[NinaBrooke]

In any way all of this - and also the french attempts to call this a "domestic affair" which shouldn`t be presented and slaughtered "the american way" in the medias, is living proof for me that yet again,

"The private is political"

as it is proofen here again that chalking something up to "private sphere" is another excuse to not discuss issues or behave improper without consequences.
That is one of the reasons why the feminists criticised the existence of the so called "private sphere".
I will bring an interesting quote later concering this from a book i read for my thesis. Its exactly about the distinction between private and public sphere and how the private sphere serves as garbage can for the public sphere and how it is that in the private sphere women get abused by male patriarchy and don`t even have a voice , because its considered private and not to be discussed in public.

Here`s a part from my thesis, its referential for non-monogamous relationship identities and the fact which styles of relationships are proper to be discussed in public, but it refers to the constriction of the private sphere too, since the public sphere excludes everything that is "inconvenient" for heteronormativity, also sexual abuse, that gets silenced that way:

"The construction of the public sphere in heteronormative terms opens the possibilities for ostracising queer identities, sex, affection and relationships outside of the narrow constriction of the private sphere.[.....] As a result, queer sexualities (such as S/M, same-sex relationships and prostitution) may in fact be regulated by the state across the boundaries of the public/private distinction" (Klesse 2007,P.134)."

[gnadfly]

I'm trying to make some sense over your last two posts. Are you saying that the Euro press is trying to sweep the incident under the rug because it is "sexual"? Generally, here in US if a politician gets caught in an affair, 90% of the time its the end of their political career...at least for the short term. That's just an affair. For sexual harassment and rape its probably close to 100% if the allegations have merit.

The press is usually merciless due to partisan competition to have it published and talked about on the many 24 hour news programs. The "gentlemen's agreement" that protected folks like John Kennedy is long gone.

As far as feigned outrage I would assure you that some of this is real. If you work for a large govt agency or Fortune 500 company, HR is doing a meticulous job of reviewing every sexual misconduct charge. Its something they are incredibly sensitive about. Of course, the outrage is primarily coming from the victim and their family but every manager is going to pay a convincing amount of lip service to it.

[woodyboyd]

Originally Posted by ninasastri

I assume like in every scenario like this, there are powers that are willing to help hide scenarios and some that are willing to uncover it - for political reasons and power.

Good for you, Nina. I expected the typical male outrage and condemnation from many of the unwashed here. You'd think that innocent until proven guilty would mean something to people engaging in illegal activity, but many are willing to convict DSK right now.

You'd also think that after the Duke case people would have learned the games the media plays to always make the alleged victim appear more sympathetic. With that case, it was "single mom" and "university student". While that was true, she also was a mentally unstable escort and stripper.

In this case, we see in the American press "single mom", "ideal employee", and "widower". The French are taking an opposite tact likely shocked that we are treating a presumably innocent man like he is guilty already. They have released her name, suggested that she may be HIV+, stated she was a "practicing muslim", speaks French like DSK, and have reported that a lot of the maids in upscale hotels may be willing to perform sexual acts if the price is right. See the link: http://www.inmalafide.com/blog/2011/...ssatou-diallo/

The victim's story as has been told by police is that she went into DSK's room, found him there coming out of the shower, grabbed her, shut the door, and forced her to have sex with him. Besides fondling her all over, she performed oral sex on him such that he had an orgasm, and she spit the semen on the carpet. After that, she "escaped".

The "escaped" part is dramatic nonsense that doesn't make any sense, and it is not the only issue.

What bugs me a lot about many Americans is that they get so wrapped up in vengance that they lose sight of what the law is about: protecting the citizens. And if you look at things from that angle, the best thing that could have happened is that DSK puts down a million dollars bail and flees the country. That way he is presumed guilty, and the victim could get a chunk of the bail money. She could live her life in peace, and the citizens would be spared the cost of a trial and keeping this man in prison. So this whole ordeal IMO is for the benefit of the lawyers and law enforcement: the prosecutors, police, and judge who want fame and the defense attorneys who want money.

The people who want to see blood in this case are not seeing how easily reasonable doubt can be achieved here. There are literally thousands of financial and political reasons to set DSK up and ironically, he himself predicted that he would be. Initially, I thought that too many people would have to be involved for a likely conspiracy, but really it could be as few as three or four. The key players would have to include the maid, the hotel's security officer, and the NYPD detective or dectectives. Anyone who is presuming that DSK is guilty is assuming that these three of four players are pristine, and we have no idea how clean these people truly are.

Then there are DSK' actions. He leaves his DNA on the carpet, has lunch with his daughter instead of fleeing, gets on his scheduled flight, and even calls the hotel where he allegedly rapes someone and asks about his cell phone. These are the actions of an innocent man. Prosecutors are going to have to go with the fact that either DSK was a man of extreme arrogance or extreme stupidity and prove it. Given DSK's political ability, it is going to be child's play for him to convince a jury otherwise.

Then there are problems with the encounter itself. A 32 year old black woman couldn't outrun a 62 year old naked white man to an open door? If a woman is giving a man oral sex and he achieves orgasm, she is consenting. The issue is whether the consent was achieved under duress, and that is a tough nut to crack.

What bugs me is what is not being said. No one in the media is saying the woman said no. He could have said, "Give me a blow job" with his arms flailing like the French do in a threatening way. DSK may have been acting his usual haughty French self, and the woman was frightened. How do you distinguish between a real threat and a perceived threat? There has to got to be some really good objective evidence (bruises, scratches ETC) to show that there was a real threat. Otherwise, it is just her word against his.

Alan Dershowitz said the key is going to be if other women testify against DSK. Nina, as you yourself have shown, one of these women has credibility issues. On top of that, what are the DAs offering? A free trip to New York in exchange for slamming DSK? And let's be honest. If these women committed perjury, nothing is going to happen to them because they live in France/Europe. I can't say seeing five women crying their eyes out at being attacked by DSK wouldn't move me, but I should be taking their testimony with a grain of salt. If the defense attorneys can get these other women excluded, then it may boil down to his word against hers.

Dershowitz said a plea deal will likely be offered, and I agree. I think prosecutors stand an excellent chance at losing in a trial. Many may think if he takes a plea deal that implies guilt, but that is flawed thinking. If you were given the choice of five years probation or the chance of spending 25 years in an American jail, what would you do? If I were French (or maybe even if I was not), I'd take the probation and get the hell out of Dodge.

[atlcomedy]

I typically am a proponent of innocent til proven guilty & am in this case as well. I've simply seen too many lives ruined because of reckless, false charges.

Just because he gets off in a court of law doesn't mean he isn't a sleazeball or hasn't broken the law in the past.

I do still struggle with this being a conspiracy/setup. Not that it isn't possible or that it couldn't be pulled off with relative ease. Frankly I think all it would take is learning where he was staying, bribe a housekeeper to seduce him and arrange for her to clean his room. You know the guy can't keep his dick in his pants if offered. Boom. Done! Possible? Sure. I just think the probability of that being the case is just very low.

I do think he has trouble getting a fair jury trial. Being a French asshole (I know, oxymoron) isn't going to endear him to a bunch of New Yorkers

[Fast Gunn]

I too gave Dominique the benefit of the doubt when the story first came out.

Surely, I thought such a powerful and wealthy man would not be so foolish as to try to assault a simple cleaning woman when he could simply pick up the phone and call a provider.

Surely, I thought, he must have been set-up, but slowly as the background to this man's life began to trickle out, a clear pattern emerged.

He has done this before and he has gotten away with it because the women he assaulted were afraid of his power and wealth, but this cleaning woman did not see all that. She only saw that what he had done was violated her.

He almost got away with it again. He was already sitting on the plane waiting for take-off when the police pulled him off for questioning.

The heartless son-of-a-bitch even had the audacity to call the hotel to ask if he had left anything behind. That to me was just a sneaky way to test the waters he left churning behind him and act all innocent.

People like him live their lives in total denial and they will keep on doing it until life takes a sledge hammer to their head and drive the message home that a change in behavior is demanded.

DSK is guilty as sin, but the trial will drag out like the O.J. Simpson case did. His defense team will put the victim on trial and make it seem like she asked for it, but justice will prevail in the end.