



Leaders, libidos and the politics of lust


Louis Nowra

Whether they favour secret trysts or bunga-bunga bacchanals, some politicians just can't seem to help themselves. Louis Nowra looks at what compels leaders to risk everything for sex.

Hail to the cheat ... John F. Kennedy's philandering was kept from the public.

Hail to the cheat ... John F. Kennedy's philandering was kept from the public. Photo: John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library

It was only after he died that the full extent of president John F. Kennedy's infidelities became public. His libido was prodigious, so much so it's a wonder he ever had time to govern.

A former official must have thought the same thing because he explained that the sexual encounters lasted only as long as a tennis game. This didn't help at all. What are we talking here? Did the liaisons last as long as one rally? One game? A match? Was the match three or five sets?

Kennedy was lucky. His sexual peccadilloes might have been known by his staff, who helped procure women for him, and many journalists - but in those days the media refrained from reporting what was considered something private and unrelated to his abilities as president.

Sunk ... Herman Cain. Click for more photos

Leaders and libidos

Whether they favour secret trysts or bunga-bunga bacchanals, some politicians just can't seem to help themselves. Photo: AP

Compare this treatment with that of Herman Cain, who only last month was a front runner in the race to become the Republican presidential nominee but had to end his campaign amid allegations of sexual misconduct. His campaign unravelled in what has become a familiar narrative. First there were whispers of him having sexually harassed a woman years before. He denied it, of course, but then other women came forward not only to allege sexual harassment but confirm that they, too, had been paid out by Cain as a result of his crude actions.

If he thought denials would work, he was wrong, especially when another woman went public saying she had a 13-year affair with the married presidential hopeful.

Then followed the required ritual of a public apology, with his stoical wife, Gloria, standing by the side of her 66-year-old husband as he called the allegations ''false and unproved''. He avoided a full confession by obfuscating through a vague statement on which he never elaborated: ''I've been the very first to own up to any mistakes I've made.''

Richard Nixon's secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, said: ''Power is the great aphrodisiac.'' (Although it has to be said his planned seduction of the B-grade movie actor Mamie van Doren went awry when she was repelled by his smelly socks.) He regretted saying that famous bon mot but it's true. Because political leaders are the alpha males in the community, women are attracted to them, even though the men may be ugly and much older, as was Bill Clinton when he and Monica Lewinsky indulged in kinky cigar sex in the White House.

It's the same with the recently resigned Italian prime minster, Silvio Berlusconi, whose orgies, or bunga-bunga parties, have become notorious. What repelled many people was the thought of this plump former cruise singer in his 70s, with a rigid, shiny face courtesy of plastic surgery and Botox, bedding teenagers.

But, as I know from my own past, the allure of the dominant male is strong.

A relative of mine was a prim and proper woman and a fanatical Labor supporter. Although she was married, she had flings with a charismatic prime minister and an unappealing but highly intelligent state premier. She not only admired these men but justified her behaviour as a feminine way of supporting the Labor Party.

Many political leaders have had enormous sexual appetites. Chairman Mao Zedong was a legendary sleaze and the recently murdered Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, fuelled by dangerous amounts of Viagra, had sex five times a day with any women his aides could find for him. Mussolini and Napoleon were just as voracious.

The thing is that we might be shocked by the amount of sexual excess but not surprised, which is why it's strange that we continue to have politicians' careers ruined or besmirched by sexual allegations. There have been many this year alone.

The most celebrated figure, whose name was probably unfamiliar to anyone outside France and the arcane world of the International Monetary Fund, became so infamous across the world that the initials DSK became as instantly recognisable as his full moniker, Dominique Strauss-Kahn. He was expected to become the next French president before he was arrested in New York over accusations he had raped a hotel maid in his suite. What's not in dispute is that sex took place but DSK called it consensual and the charge was dropped. Just what happened in that encounter is known only to he and chambermaid Nafissatou Diallo but those seven minutes (a little longer than a hard-fought tennis rally) ruined his career.

His wife, a wealthy heiress and former television presenter, Anna Sinclair, stood by him, funding his defence and defending him when his sexual past became public. One French woman accused him of rape; others came forward to describe his predatory behaviour and how aggressive and selfish he was during sex and how his proclivities included paying for high-class call girls and kerb crawling for prostitutes in the Bois de Boulogne. What makes him even more creepy is that he looks like a primaeval toad.

Closer to home, at the recent Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry in Sydney, a former cabinet minister in the state Labor government, Ian Macdonald, was investigated for alleged rorts and his private life came under scrutiny.

It turned out the married ''Sir Lunchalot'', as he is nicknamed, ended up in a five-star hotel one night with a Chinese prostitute called Tiffanie. He denied any sex took place and insisted all he was after was a neck massage but fell asleep before she could give him one. Her version was different. She alleged she removed all her clothes except her underwear and lay on the bed. Without taking off his suit, Macdonald lay on top of her and kissed her ''very roughly''.

Tiffanie later told a friend she thought Macdonald was ''gross'' and - given he looks like one of those foetuses stored in a specimen bottle as a medical curiosity - Tiffanie's reaction to him, that she felt like vomiting, seems entirely reasonable.

What appears common to most of these politicians is the risks they take, whether it's sex in the Oval Office or mooching around for hookers in a Paris park. But then it could be said that most politicians succeed by taking risks.

It's the nature of politics to gamble on making a grasp for leadership or to outfox one's opponents with a risky strategy. Fuelled by a lust for power and driven by vast reserves of testosterone, which he needs to make it to the top, the alpha politician regards women as a just and proper reward for someone in his position.

Politics is about power and with it comes the exhilaration of being the dominant male. The risks of discovery these men take in their private lives is a part of the allure of such adventures. The excitement of the risk of being caught is underpinned by their arrogance and feelings of invulnerability, something that was clearly evident in Clinton's dangerous fling.

But there's more to it. The art of politics is being able to seduce your backers and the public to vote for you. It's only a short step to these men thinking it's only natural that they can also seduce any woman they want. If you believe Tiffanie - and there are many reasons for doing so - then Macdonald said to her: ''If you knew who I was, you would be very surprised.'' It sums up both a politician's massive ego and the thrill of being a powerful man.

Unfortunately, Macdonald's wife found the hotel key the next day, so there were consequences the narcissistic Sir Lunchalot didn't foresee. Despite allegations of business favours, the media concentrated on the sexual accusations.

It seems strange in our highly sexualised world that anyone would be bothered about these politicians' sex lives. After all, they are there to govern and if their sexual behaviour doesn't interfere with their duties, then why should we care? But we do.

There are reasons for this that go beyond our prurient curiosity. Many of these politicians present themselves as family men who stand for family values. The reality is that many who espouse these ideals are common adulterers.

Once caught and publicly exposed, there is now the heavily stage-managed mea culpa in front of the media, with his spouse at his side offering moral support and a display of physical closeness, generally awkward given that the politician probably hasn't touched his wife in years.

This is where the spin merchants and PR representatives for the politicians get it spectacularly wrong. How many times have we seen these men front the cameras with their wives, who can barely disguise their shock, disgust, anger and misery at being betrayed by their husbands and being put on public display as a loyal, forgiving wife?

It's in these moments we can see so vividly the hypocrisy of the offender and we unconsciously make the connection: if he can lie to his wife and betray her, then he'll do it to the public, too. It's not so much the sex but the sense that the politician is someone we can never trust. And yet, given the natural convergence of power and sex in human life, it's impossible to imagine 2012 without more political sex scandals.

Louis Nowra is a playwright and author.

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  • Doesn't matter. Had sex.

    Date and time
    December 28, 2011, 11:17AM
    • What about the alpha females like Margaret Thatcher, Anna Bligh, Quentin Bryce, Gail Westpac ... Do they get equivalent rewards ? Or are age/looks still important.

      Date and time
      December 28, 2011, 12:07PM
      • Ahhh no we don't... those who do are generally and correctly recognised as having a problem. Men should be the same in this regard.

        Date and time
        December 28, 2011, 1:14PM
    • Good to see Louis Nowra exposing the "women are attracted to powerful men and men like sex" shocker.

      hired goon
      Date and time
      December 28, 2011, 1:14PM
      • Sex relieves stress. I don't mind if my leaders get a bit freaky to relieve themselves from an otherwise (I presume) stressful life.

        Also I think the majority of sex scandals are not about the act itself, just about discrediting/extorting said persons.

        What you said about the arrogance of being an alpha male was interesting though. A leader in my opinion should never be arrogant or self indulgent in his own position. I think this is one of the objectives of our so called election process, to ween out the alpha males who seek to abuse powers. But all men crave sex, most women do to I believe. I don't think it's fair to judge people on their sexual appetite, It should be kept behind closed doors, not in the public arena.

        That guy
        Date and time
        December 28, 2011, 6:31PM
        • First you get the money.
          When you got the money, you get the power.
          Then when you get the power, you get the women.
          When you get the woman, she take all your power and spend all your money.

          Date and time
          December 28, 2011, 9:02PM
          • So many people do not know what it is to be totally committed to their wives and husbands in that Loving and Caring that knows no Ending, the Love that never dies, the Love that never fades away.

            Date and time
            December 28, 2011, 9:04PM
            • I have a mate who once worked as a ministerial staff member before he quit due to all the backstabbing and wrongdoings. He told me that this as only a small part of who all the egotistical and vindictive senior politicians really are. It's very rare that a senior politician makes it to the top of the party hierarchy through honesty, integrity and merit. These are the people who start wars, cause famines and pandemics and perpetrate crimes against humanity without any conscientious burden. Your quintessential politician is Lowery and King with cunning and tact so don't be surprised by the behaviour discussed in this article.

              Date and time
              December 28, 2011, 11:06PM
              • I find the writers description of peoples appearance abhorrent, surely your paper could publish the same article without calling a person a "toad" or a "foetus stored in a specimen bottle". The descriptions left me feeling sick, not by the image created but by the crude offensive writings of the author. Otherwise the article was entertaining. But I now add Louis Nowra to my list of offensive authors to ignore, in the same vein as Mr. Sandilands.

                Nowra NSW
                Date and time
                December 29, 2011, 1:34AM
                • I note the not -so -ugly mentioned in this article are dealt with less severely. Apparently Louis thinks ugly folk are less deserving of a bit of rock and roll..

                  Date and time
                  December 29, 2011, 10:16AM
              Comments are now closed

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