Objectify This

France  has long been aligned with romance in the American imagination, but recent events have got me going all Public Enemy on that ish: Don’t Believe the Hype.

It all centers on the discussions of the behavior of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the chief of the International Monetary Fund currently sitting in Riker’s Island without bail awaiting trial for sexual assault and attempted rape.

At The Australian, Chris Bremner reports that “When Mr Strauss-Kahn’s conduct has crossed the boundary even by French standards, he has been protected by a team of powerful image-minders who have been grooming his candidature for his planned presidential run against Mr Sarkozy.”

Meanwhile, over at ABC, Marc Perelman stated, “It is certainly something that is very serious even by French standards which tend to be more liberal when it comes to politicians womanising.”

The Independent’s George Garvey concurs: “While the French public generally takes a more tolerant view of such peccadilloes than their counterparts in English-speaking countries, Strauss-Kahn’s private life has been an eventful one even by relaxed French standards.”

On one hand, things are different in France: On public radio’s The Kojo Nnamdi show, David Clark, deputy bureau chief with Agence France-Press, described Strauss-Kahn’s behavior in context. “And that he would often have multiple affairs ongoing at the same time with staff and with people on the outside, including several journalists. It’s extremely common, not to say banal, for French politicians, even at the highest level, to comport themselves in a manner which would be seen as an embarrassment in an Anglo-Saxon culture. On the other hand, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, if these allegations are proved true, has certainly crossed the line even by French standards because this is apparently quite a violent assault. It’s not a seduction by any means, if the allegations against him are true.”

This all leads to some questions. What are these ‘french standards’? Why must we be reassured that sexual assault and attempted rape would exceed the standards of any civilized nation?

Because, it turns out, Europe is less culturally progressive than the U.S. With the gravity of history pulling for tradition, there’s apparently less momentum for gender equity — as evidenced by the recent protests of hiring and promotion practice in Germany. I guess that despite our failing education system, despite our economic straits, despite our desire to pass off our least salubrious foods as European (Belgian Waffles, French Fries) and our obesity epidemic and our heinous politico-corporate hegemony, we do have some small victories to be proud of. Hallelujah, America.  You may release 95% of those indicted on rape charges, but at least we’re clear that rape is a crime, by our standards.