Mitterrand, hit by sex furor, wins fresh support

Source: Agency reports published in the China Daily

PARIS: French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand won the backing of fellow politicians on Sunday against calls for his resignation for having written about paying young male prostitutes in Thailand.

Government spokesman Luc Chatel, Immigration Minister Eric Besson and Left Party founder Jean-Luc Melenchon spoke out in support of the nephew of former President Francois Mitterrand, who has threatened legal action to protect his reputation.

. . .

Mitterrand was compelled to defend himself on television last week, saying he had only been with consenting adults and had committed no crime. He added that he condemned both sex tourism and pedophilia.

The row was further stoked on Friday when the Quotidien de la Reunion newspaper published a letter sent by Mitterrand when he was director of the French Academy in Rome in support of the family of two boys accused, and later convicted, of rape.

. . .

The affair appears to have provoked a split in the government, with Labor Minister Xavier Darcos saying Mitterrand needed to explain his behavior, and Sarkozy adviser Henri Guaino defending him.

Read more: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2009-10/12/content_8780673.htm

---

Mitterrand came under additional scruitny after he forcefully defended Polanski.

and a prostitute

>>Mr Mitterrand admitted in his autobography that his attraction to young and implicitly under-age male prostitutes had continued even though he was aware of "the sordid details of this traffic". "I got into the habit of paying for boys," he wrote. "All these rituals of the market for youths, the slave market excited me enormously... the abundance of very attractive and immediately available young boys put me in a state of desire."

The book, which won critical acclaim and sold 190,000 copies in France, was presented by Mr Mitterrand – then a popular television presenter – as an "autobiography which is half real and half dreamed". It remains to be seen whether the suggestion that his descriptions of sex tourism were not strictly autobiographical will allow him to save his career. The memoir includes lurid scenes in male brothels in Thailand and Indonesia where boys are presented to Western tourists. An English translation is due out next year.<<

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mitterrand-fights-for-his-job-after-rent-boy-admission-1799299.html

"Liberty, egality, fraternity" can be dispensed with when it comes to brown people? Seems so.

On the subject of prostitution we have seen democrats and republicans alike to fall in disgrace for using the services of prostitutes. We make those politicians the victims or the devils depending on what party they belong to. But in the real world there are prostitutes who are real humans and have no labor rights but society protects prostitution in XXX films and condemns prostitution for its voyeuristic pleasure.

in Thailand and Indonesia only serve to promote those markets? What kind of a culture minister has a responsibility to condemn sex tourism and yet speaks positively of sex slavery markets in Southeast Asia?

He is uncovering a problem that exist and many "civilized" societies want to ignore.

It's well-known that the European states that were the worst abusers of colonialism had two sets of rules and laws - one for home and one for "abroad", and that wild children would be sent abroad to abuse locals in their colonies as they wished, but that the same behavior at home would land them in hot water. It totally disgusts me.

One days Americans will be sophisticated enough to support people like Mitterrand. :eyes:

edited for spelling.

than it actually is.

Don't feel to bad for this guy after he admitted to paying for sex with a child.