EYKIW: DOES POWER BREED SIN BY DEFAULT?
Thu, 19 May 2011 16:15:20
Strauss-Kahn and Schwarzenegger grew up, as have all us males, in what James Brown correctly defined as "A Man's Man's World."
The male domination of business, the professions and politics has created an atmosphere of such deep entitlement that it's still front page news when a woman rises to lead a major corporation, take a seat on the federal bench or, wonder of wonders, runsfor President.
Men not only rule the roost, our misogynistic culture gives them the green light to roost anywhere they want. I was appalled to read about a group of undergraduates, fifty years my junior at Yale, fulfilling their fraternity hazing by serenading the campus with the chant, "No is Yes, Yes is Anal!”, another example of the male elite taking the domination of women for granted.
In this context, Strauss-Kahn and Schwarzenegger are less an aberration than we might hope. Let me put it to rhyme:
The Prez of the IMF vault
Is in handcuffs for rape and assault.
And Arnold's a Dad
With the housemaid he had;
Does power breed sin by default?