Migrant maid unlikely to risk all for sex, even if guest is DSK

In accusations of rape and other sorts of sexual aggression, those who were not there can only imagine what actually happened, which is why so many judicial cases fail to convict the accused. Because no matter how much smoke and bluster all sides throw up, judges and juries in the end often confront a he said-she said scenario in which the level of consent to acts is impossible to know. This applies everywhere, including to the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn and a hotel maid.

The maid was a migrant – that’s why I am writing about it, although the case may be interesting for many other reasons. Her name seems to be Nafissatou Diallo, and she may have come to New York from Guinea or, according to which source you look at, from some other west African country, and maybe it was three years ago or perhaps it was ten, frustrating some writers. But no matter where she came from or when, conspiracy theorists fail to consider how generally unlikely it is that a migrant person who has managed to obtain a steady job with an employer of some reputation, Sofitel, would risk losing that job. Her employment is important to the case because for a migrant it means legal security of a kind not easily available, and on the basis of this alone I find it hard to imagine Diallo would fabricate an accusation against a guest, or engage in a sexual romp with one, for that matter.

Reporters sniffing around to find more about her are finding neighbours who testify to how quiet and ‘good’ she is – the stereotypical counterpart to insinuations that a woman is slutty or ‘bad’. Mentions of her being a practicing muslim, a headscarf-wearer and a single mother are all just as demeaning as claims that she is suspect because she does not wear a scarf or go to a mosque. It’s all sexist drivel. Automatic feminist calls to support the woman are not much better, resting on a gender-rigid idea that the man in the case is suspect by definition. Note Le traitement de l’affaire DSK entretient la confusion des esprits and L’« affaire Strauss-Kahn » : confusion des genres. Perhaps, though, it is beginning to feel more feasible for women to publicly accuse men of sexual crimes, without fear that they will be automatically disbelieved. That would be nice.

It would also be nice for commentators on France’s culture of discretion over public figures’ sex lives to realise that sexual assault and rape do not actually fall into the category sex life as usually conceived.

The Sofitel Times Square where events took place has a magnifique theme, public rooms named for the usual Paris sites: Bastille, Concorde, Madeleine, Montmartre, St Germain, Trocadero. The claim from a friend of DSK that it is suspicious the maid would be working alone in the hotel room is debunked by someone who’s actually stayed in it, who also says the place is not so fancy after all, despite the price. Side note: the BBC World Debate people put me in a Sofitel in Luxor, Egypt, last December whose four stars must have been bought, so crappily ordinary was it.

–Laura Agustín, the Naked Anthropologist

7 thoughts on “Migrant maid unlikely to risk all for sex, even if guest is DSK

  1. Daryl Champion

    A welcome, sober piece that cautions us to reserve our opinions – let alone judgments – until more is known, in contrast to the hysteria that already seems to be taking hold. If even the most basic facts about the woman involved have not be ascertained, not much can possibly be known about the incident yet. Coming from a political background, I’d say the maid was vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation in more ways than one.

    And on the Sofitel network, I too was put up in one in Madrid in 2005 for a conference on “democracy, terrorism and security”, and it was what you’d expect from what I presume was four stars: very pleasant and more than adequate, but nothing that special. Re the one in question in NYC, Times Square may not be what it used to be, but it’s still no Mayfair.

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  2. Laura Agustín

    hello daryl, missed you at the last onscenity event. i didn’t mean to complain about the luxor hotel, which i am sure was quite pricey, but rather to point out that a ludicrous $3000-per-night price may well not add up to super luxury (and whatever that might imply about the guest who stayed in it and his expense account).

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  3. Daryl Champion

    No, didn’t think you were complaining about the Luxor hotel, and a good point you make in mentioning it. I’m sure they’re overpriced, as I’m sure the Madrid one I stayed in was. So yes, the main point here is that these hotels have an image, and they *charge*, but do you really get what you think you might for the price? I doubt it.

    Anyway, how DSK’s trial works through will be of great interest, especially against the backdrop of Greece, Ireland and Portugal (and soon Spain?) and the greater euro crisis.

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  4. William Thirteen

    speaking with a friend this evening we eventually reached exactly the point you make – that it is quite doubtful that Ms. Diallo would have endangered her job by engaging in sex, compensated or not, with a hotel guest during working hours.

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  5. laura agustin Post author

    william, i certainly hope more people in general come to the same understanding! a lot of commentary seems to revolve around girl-boy-sex rather than the social background. granted it seems hard to believe this man would risk everything with such an act, though we are somewhat accustomed now to powerful men thinking they can get away with sexual oddities and misconduct. it is harder to believe a migrant would risk everything the same way.

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  6. Priscilla Alexander

    I think the woman must be incredibly brave to take on a man with such privilege and power. Perhaps the most interesting aspect is that it seems the French are discussing whether their usual tolerance of the pecadilloes of men in power is misplaced, or represents a serious misunderstanding of the context of these men’s sexual access. I also think it is sort of amazing that the assertion got as much play as it did here in New York.

    Reply
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