Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former IMF head whose French presidential aspirations were derailed by a sex scandal in NYC last year (a hotel maid accused him of raping her, he claimed it was consensual, the Manhattan DA's office dropped the case), continues to discuss his sex life. And if you wonder why a 63-year-old's private life is of such debate, it's because he's been charged with pimping in France due to his participation in orgies. Last week, Strauss-Kahn told a magazine, "I long thought that I could lead my life as I wanted."
The NY Times explains that Strauss-Kahn feels that authorities are trying to "criminalize lust," and give more context for Strauss-Kahn's libido:
That defense and the investigation, which is facing a critical judicial hearing in late November, have offered a keyhole view into a clandestine practice in certain powerful circles of French society: secret soirees with lawyers, judges, police officials, journalists and musicians that start with a fine meal and end with naked guests and public sex with multiple partners.
In France, “Libertinage” has a long history in the culture, dating from a 16th-century religious sect of libertines. But the most perplexing question in the Strauss-Kahn affair is how a career politician with ambition to lead one of Europe’s most powerful nations was blinded to the possibility that his zest for sex parties could present a liability, or risk blackmail.
The exclusive orgies called “parties fines” — lavish Champagne affairs costing around $13,000 each — were organized as a roving international circuit from Paris to Washington by businessmen seeking to ingratiate themselves with Mr. Strauss-Kahn. Some of that money, according to a lawyer for the main host, ultimately paid for prostitutes because of a shortage of women at the mixed soirees orchestrated largely for the benefit of Mr. Strauss-Kahn, who sometimes sought sex with three or four women.
Strauss-Kahn said in an interview with a French magazine, "There are numerous parties that exist like this in Paris, and you would be surprised to encounter certain people. I was naïve... I was too out of step with French society. I was wrong."
