Last weekend the British tabloid News of the World ran a story (with accompanying video, which has since been taken down) about Max Mosley, the president of the organization that oversees international motor sports and Formulate One racing.
Apparently Mr. Mosely paid for five sex workers to act out an elaborate fantasy role play scenario and the tabloid obtained the video and testimony from some of the sex workers. According to the tabloid what was particularly “depraved” about the five hour “orgy” was that it involved “Nazi-style” themes and activities. As it turns out Mosley has more than a fantasy connection with Nazis. His father was a fascist leader in Britain in the 30s and among the families Nazi memories, his parents were married in Germany at Joseph Goebbels house, with Hitler in attendance.
The issue of whether or not this particular event was intended to evoke concentration camps or Nazis doesn’t actually interest me. If this guy harbors sexual fantasies that are anti-Semitic (or for that matter racist, misogynist, or homophobic) he’s hardly the only one that has them. In fact given the documented rise in anti-Semitism in Europe, one feels that the media and prominent individuals who have been responding to the scandal doth protest too much.
If you read the commentaries at all it becomes quickly apparent that the only problem with anti Semitism is that it leads to bad press, and that the real winners in the story are all the sports and business leaders who have quickly spoken out against anti-Semitism (without actually doing anything to challenge it).
Max Clifford, writing on the Guardian UK’s sport blog puts it succinctly:
“Containing a sex scandal is one thing but anti Semitism is totally another when you consider the vast amount of sponsorship that is involved in motorsport.”
Notice that Clifford doesn’t say containment is a problem because all fans of Formula One understand the linkages between anti Semitism and other forms of prejudice and discrimination and how these ideas poison our understanding of each other as human beings who share common interests and concerns. He doesn’t say containment is a problem because anti Semitism offends the morality of any human being. He says it’s a problem because of the money involved.
Putting even a finer point on how little Clifford believes people actually care about anti-Semitism, he goes on to explain that the scandal will be harder for Mosely because he’s an administrator, “if Max Mosley was a great motor racing driver and a champion he would be in a much easier position.” It’s true. It is much easier to publicly be racist, misogynistic, and anti Semitic if you’re famous. Just ask…almost anyone famous.
But let’s get back to the sex part of the scandal. The coverage and particularly the buttons that the tabloid believes are best to push raises many questions.
The mother of all sexual fantasy questions is simply; is it okay to act out sexual fantasies about the Holocaust? What about other acts of genocide? What about fantasies that evoke the violence that can so easily accompany systemic racism? Is there a hierarchy of atrocities that is rated for sexual fantasy?
I’m also curious about whether it is the content of the fantasy which people pretend to be offended by, or the fact that it is being played out in real life. These issues are ones that come up often in discussions of the sex play that happens in Second Life, since virtual spaces so miraculously blur the line between fantasy and reality. The tabloid certainly focuses on all the physical accoutrements of the fantasy, as if betting that it’s the acting out that is most outrageous.
I also found it curious that the coverage described Mosely as being both submissive and dominant. I wonder if he was only playing a submissive role, say a prisoner in a concentration camp, would that change the way people perceive the acceptability or unacceptability of his sexual fantasy?
My own opinion is that any fantasy that people have, as long as it doesn’t involve any real life coercion, is okay. I don’t really want to know all the details, but the fact is that I don’t want to know about the non-sexual thoughts of that many of my fellow humans have. I hold no illusions about the world we live in and understand that prejudice is a continuum on which we all find ourselves in one place or another.
When it comes to acting our fantasies out I do believe it gets more complicated. In theory I believe that consenting adults have the right to act out their sexual fantasies. But I know that in practice the concept of consent is not always cut and dry, and I’ve certainly spoken with people who have felt victimized by others acting out their sexual fantasies in their presence. Should this prevent people from doing so? I’m not sure. But I think if anything this recent scandal should remind us that if we do act out our sexual fantasies, they may one day end up on the cover of a British tabloid.
Read more – New York Times: Possible Nazi Theme of Grand Prix Boss’s Orgy Draws Calls to Quit