How the mighty (may) have fallen

That he had many mistresses, that he consulted sites, that girls were brought to the hotel at the end of his lectures, that he invited them to undress, that some resisted and that he could become violent and aggressive, yes, but I have never heard of rapes, I am stunned," he told French magazine L’Obs.

--Bernard Godard on Tariq Ramadan.

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I want to stress that these are, at the moment, only accusations and not facts. I'm not usually given to speculation but if true then this is pretty damning and horrific. For the people involved but also-and I'm not sure if it's appropriate to talk about the social ramifications right now- it means the end of one of the moderate voices on Islam in Europe. Of course, if the allegations are true that doesn't really matter. What does is that those in power are exposed. Ramadan may or may not be guilty but it is clear to me that men with money/power can be manipulative.

In a limited sense I've seen it at my university with male colleagues cultivating a 'manly' persona (in some cases having affairs with students. That's been rare but it has happened). I think the more pervasive expression of authority is to have young women hang around you. What a sad, sad state you have to be in if you want to have young women, half your age, look up to you). A more typical Lahori/Punjabi thing is to buy yourself what used to be called 'a keep' in the old days (in short, a mistress or a 'second wife' or a high-end prostitute, basically). And I've seen that, too.  

What is it a sign of? Some deep-rooted, primordial male need to dominate? A need to collect 'trophies'. Of course, I'm suspicious of such ideas. They don't mean that much. What difference does it make if these attitudes developed over the last ten thousand years of agriculture or were there right from the beginning? Or is it more specifically to do with the age we're at (since it does seem to be a particularly middle-aged thing I include myself by saying 'we')?

But back to Ramadan. Not that you've read any of his stuff but he always did come across as suave, gentle, sincere, and liberal-or at least open-minded. My sister even interviewed him for a newspaper a few years ago. Must dig that up.