I’ve been pondering why many male politicians are boorish mashers around women; the behavior isn’t uncommon. Perhaps it is related to the notion that politics is show business for ugly people.
I have an idea for you to consider, it seems reasonable but I’ve no idea if it is a major causal factor. Let’s begin with the idea that a few women find powerful men attractive and respond to them with friendliness, smiles and sometimes much more.
Monica Lewinsky was the 1970s poster child for this groupie phenomenon. In 1990s California Kamala Harris turned her Willie Brown affair into substantial career advancement.
My insight, if such it proves to be, is that repeated exposure to this behavior convinces some men that they are broad-spectrum (pun intended) “chick magnets” when they are not. Only a minority of women will perceive their prominence/power as sexually attractive.
The politicians who understand that many women won’t find them irresistible, and who therefore wait to be approached by the ones who do, often avoid trouble. Others who choose to believe the alluring falsehood that somehow they have become irresistible get into #MeToo trouble.
Let me be clear, I’m not blaming the victims. Some collateral responsibility however may accrue to the victims’ susceptible sisters who helped foster politicians’ delusions of “studliness.”
