IMF head Strauss-Khan charged with sexual assault, attempted rape and imprisonment of hotel maid in New York

Article here:

www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/dominique-strauss-kahn/8531634/Dominique-Strauss-Kahn-DNA-samples-confirm-sperm-traces-on-maids-dress.html

Latest from the Telegraph. The sperm of DSK has been verified on the hotel maid's dress :

'' New York Police sent DNA test results to French authorities on Sunday, The Telegraph reports, which confirmed that the sperm found on the Sofitel maid's dress belonged to none other than alleged rapist Dominique Strauss-Kahn. The DNA tests are the latest updates on Strauss-Kahn's case, and were published first on the French website Atlantico.fr. Other recent reports say that the former IMF chief invited two other female Sofitel staff members to his room for a drink the day before his alleged sexual attack on the maid, a West African immigrant in her thirties. Both Sofitel receptionists declined his invitation. Strauss-Kahn was released from Rikers Island on Friday, and his lawyer has said he will argue consent in the rape case. ''

This is Janet Street-Porter, yes? Always a one-woman torrent of nonsense. Partly she does it to wind people up, a la Julie Burchill. Sample quote:

"All the same, I don't think that a rash of media stories about high-profile philandering proves that men are naturally more unfaithful than women. Quite the opposite. We are better liars who naturally multi-task. It's something we can do without thinking. So we're better equipped to have affairs without anyone finding out. We compartmentalise our sexual and emotional life."

Fucking fuckwit editorial in the Indy mixes up:

DSK
Ryan Giggs
Arnie
Chris Huyne

And somehow manages to conclude it 's because we all live for longer so how can a man be expected to stay with one woman for 40 years. Oh, and that we can all learn something from gay relationships.

What the jeffing fuck?

m.independent.co.uk/;article=2;hp=opinion;/

Interesting article in the Observer this morning about French attitudes and an increasing level of feminist activism in the wake of all this.

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/22/dominique-strauss-kahn-arrest-dormant-anger-france-women

Exactly it is victim blaming and hideously sexist to think that a woman should be flattered by the attentions of a sexual predator and that it is her fault if she is not.

I don't really understand why DSK has been allowed to get away with this for as long as he has because I am not French. It literally is a badly kept secret that many female journalists refuse to be in a room alone with him. France should be ashamed of itself for tolerating this very public man's very public sexual harassment of so many women.

France is also an extremely jingoistic country - part of the defence of DSK with regards to the USA will be about protecting a Frenchman and what he represents in terms of (fucked up) French culture rather than admitting that the US is quite right to treat him as the criminal he is. France is also very anti-American.

I hate this country sometimes.

I hope that not only does DSK get what he deserves, but that the US sends a strong message to France that the assault of one of its citizens could have been avoided, if France hadn't colluded in this man's behaviour by covering it up and not taking it seriously for so long. He should already have done time for his attempted rape of Tristane Banon - no doubt there are other women too.

Beachcomber wrote - "A lot of people probably think that a woman would be flattered to be pressed for sex in a persistent manner by such a powerful man."

Just because supporters of such men would be flattered does not mean any female victim should be "honoured to be seduced".

It's too easy and social acceptable for people who have not been harassed to dismiss it as something the victim should be honoured to have experienced. If the victim doesn't see things that way, it is turned into the victim failing to see the "compliment" and another way to blame the victim. It reminds me of virgins being sacrificed to the gods after being brainwashed into thinking it was the highest honour.

Possibly, the French do seem quite proud of the fact that they separate public and private life. They hold the view that a man can fuck around and cheat on his wife in a fairly open manner and that that is none of the public's business.

However, I quite honestly think it is more about a general tolerance of misogyny and a lack of taking sexual harassment seriously. There is also very much an element that the elite are not constrained by the same boring standards of behaviour as the rest of us.

A lot of people probably think that a woman would be flattered to be pressed for sex in a persistent manner by such a powerful man.

I have been mildly sexually harassed by a neighbour. I told DH about it he did one of those French shrugs and said 'that's what men are like in France, I can see why it bothers you but there is a cultural difference - neighbour probably thinks that you are flattered and that if you tell me, I will be flattered because it means I have a sexy wife'.

We have had some fun recently by embarrassing this guy in front of other people.

Particularly to Beachcomber, Greythorne and other France-based posters :

Do you think the French privacy laws have played a significant role in suppressing discussion in France of the current and previous episodes in DSK's "career"?

I'm not surprised by the french reaction as there does appear from what I've observed to be an element in french culture that leads them to be defensive of their own no matter what the circumstances IMO.

French feminists have been speaking out about exactly this sort of warped thinking. Maybe you could pass something from one of them to the person you spoke to?

French Feminists on DSK: Stop Conflating Sexual Assault and Seduction

That is a disgusting thing to say Greythorne.

I suspect there is no getting through to people like that but I would probably say 'well that clearly makes it rape then. It is the woman who decides if she has been raped or not. NOT the man'.

I am incandescent.
I live in France and have just had a conversation with an apparently educated 30 something woman who told me:

'she might be clear it was rape but he might be equally clear that it was seduction'

Where the fuck to you start with someone like that?

They are now reporting that DSK allegedly checked into the NYC hotel, and several minutes after arriving in his room, called the front desk to ask the woman on reception if she would come upstairs to his room to join him for a drink. She declined.

Looking for love, eh?

Holy cow! $200k a month! And $5m bond. I'm not sure which is better paid, chief of the IMF or a security firm. Actually, I can probably guess...

..and a bail bond of $5 million, plus he has to pay $200k a month for a 24 hour armed guard and electronic surveillance.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been released on bail for 1million dollars

Celadron posted this link on another thread - thought it would be of interest to those here.

www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/may/19/men-behave-badly-strauss-khan

I'm disgusted by much of the French press.

Had a good conversation with my male French neighbour yesterday though who basically said 'no way is this a set up, but even if it was, he would bloody deserve it for all the women he has had a go at in the past'. He also expressed his disgust at the naming of the victim and how she has been treated by the press.

Just read elsewhere that Christine Lagarde the curent French Minister of Economic Affairs, Finances and Industry is being backed by USA, France and Germany to be the next Head of the IMF. I think the UK Govt would be happy with that.

She is a very capable woman, highly regarded and would do a good job.

To be fair to Greece there economic situation is pretty serious so I can see why the ramifications of his arrest for their situation would come before the suspected attack itself.

Paranoia's a Greek word, right?

Interesting to see how each country has its own perspective on this.

In Greece I've heard very little about the victim of the attack - one report even managed to avoid mention of her altogether. Here lots of people I've spoken to seem to think it's a conspiracy against Greece, as DSK was due to have talks with Angela Merkel about the Greek debt crisis, and negotiations were expected to start on restructuring the Greek debt, all derailed now. There has been a lot of focus on this and very little on the actual crime and the victim. Or if people remember to mention the victim, it is only to say that she was obviously paid off and bla bla conspiracy theory bla bla.

at 'nig nog'.

Will join your thread and try to be interesting .

Beachcomber my thread is up and running, awaiting interesting input!