The dirty old man chasing a pretty young girl is a figure as old as men - but there's an update happening. Some dirty old men are being made to squirm by young women who were not as gullible as they looked.
V Stiviano and Donald Sterling are a current example; Silvio Berlusconi and Karima el Mahroug the lingering example; and, in a different category, there were the accusations of Nafissatou Diallo against Dominique Strauss-Kahn. All of these women have names suggesting Third World origins, all are easy on the eye while the men definitely aren't, and each of the men has been a powerful mover and shaker in the world of politics, sport and money, realms of outrageous vanity.
When Strauss-Kahn, 63, allegedly forced himself on Diallo, 33, in a New York hotel he wouldn't have paused to even ask her name. He saw a coloured woman half his age working in a menial job, and expected her to perform a sexual act as if it was his right. In his mind, this bantam of the boudoir was a heroic figure. In her mind she was scared, which is why he settled out of court, reportedly for millions of dollars, when she brought civil charges against him. There was a time when nobody would take the word of a woman in her position against such a powerful man, but the world has thankfully changed. Strauss-Kahn paid for his self-delusion with his marriage and his potential future as President of France. He now faces charges of alleged participation in a prostitution ring in which, according to some leaked documents, he was "king of the party".
The French may be blase about such things, but even they must admit he's a sleaze-ball.
It's gratifying to think that Diallo is now well off in a world where money buys the respect and security she couldn't expect as a new immigrant. Presumed to be powerless, outrageously insulted, she got even in a way that must have really hurt. V Stiviano, 31, a more complex character, says she's the product of a rape. Her lawyer says she's a hard-working waitress, charity worker and archivist for Sterling.
