The Scotsman points out a new trend these days in France: laying bare the sex lives of politicians. The newest book to raise eyebrows and set tongues wagging is SEXUS POLITICUS, which reveals decades of philandering, adultery and seduction at the heart of the French state, with politicians of all colours apparently sharing the same passion for extra-marital sex. According to the book, president Jacques Chirac and his predecessors, François Mitterrand and Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, have juggled the fate of France, their families and a bevy of lovers with ease, helped by an acquiescent media.
But the difference is that normally, such topics are not discussed in public. “All these politicians present themselves as clean-living individuals, but almost all French male politicians are compulsive womanisers,” said Christophe Dubois, who wrote the book with Christophe Deloire. “This is an area that no-one has explored before. It was a taboo. We’ve broken this taboo with the complicity of the politicians,” he said, explaining how many of the book’s targets willingly discussed their amorous exploits.
Still, the book focuses more on high-powered males, because – surprise! – “What is tolerated for men would never be tolerated for women politicians. They would immediately be discredited if they went around having affairs,” said Dubois.