Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 27, 1992 TAG: 9202260214
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Joel Achenbach
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SEX AND POWER ARE NATURAL PARTNERS
Q: Why are politicians always getting into sex scandals?A: Male politicians are often sexually greedy. You might call it the JFK Syndrome - an extreme form of rakishness in which women are treated as perquisites of power, just like access to the better golf courses or free rides on military planes. One of these days, an American politician will simply begin his presidential inauguration speech with seven words: "My fellow Americans: Bring on the babes."
We know that, historically, sex and power have been natural partners. In pre-Columbian South America, the Inca emperor had houses of virgins spread throughout the empire, 700 virgins per site. He alone was permitted access. In ancient Rome, concubines were legally sanctioned, and the Emperor Commodus had 300.
"Across cultures, across space and time, power has correlated with sexual access," says Laura Betzig, an anthropologist at the University of Michigan who has studied the sex lives of leaders in pre-modern cultures. "It's one of the reasons people want power."
Is it possible that the powerful are oversexed? Or are they, historically, men of average sexual drives who merely exploited their power? To what extent issex drive associated with political ambition? And should we care if a guy who asks us to vote for him is unusually randy?
No one wants to elect a leader who is merely out for personal gain, financial, sexual or otherwise.
"It seems bizarre to me to hold politicians to a higher standard of sexual propriety than everybody else. On the other hand, extreme abuse of sexual privilege correlates with abuse of all sorts of other privileges," Betzig says.
It's likely that powerful men have a stronger sex drive than the average Joe, says anthropologist Helen Fisher of the American Museum of Natural History.
Heightened sex drive may be a symptom of the intoxicating nature of power. Surrounded by women, leaders may find that promiscuity leads not to satiation but rather to an unabated itch for sex. This is the Coolidge Effect - sex drive increases in response to an increase in the number of sexual partners.
Supposedly Calvin Coolidge and his wife were touring a farm, and Mrs. Coolidge became curious about the number of times a rooster engaged in sex during a day. A dozen or more, said the farmer. Astonished, she said, "Please tell that to Mr. Coolidge." The president later asked the farmer if the rooster had sex with the same hen every time, or different hens. Different hens, said the farmer. "Please tell that to Mrs. Coolidge," said the president.
\ Q: Why does Publishers Clearing House give away so much dough?
A: An even better question is: What is the "Publishers Clearing House"? Is it a warehouse where they store books? Is it where old issues of National Geographic wind up eventually? And why do sweepstakes contests in general always begin with a pitch like TELL YOUR BOSS TO SHOVE IT, BRAD BIFFLE, YOU HAVE ALREADY WON TEN MILLION DOLLARS and then you see in tiny print at the bottom something like "Void on the planet Earth."
Here's the deal: Publishers Clearing House is a private company that sells magazine subscriptions through direct mail. They have learned that a good way to get people to return their forms is to run a sweepstakes. People not only enter the contest, they often order magazines and other merchandise. And Publishers Clearing House builds a list of people who pay serious attention to their junk mail.
"We're not philanthropists," reassures Dave Sayer, spokesman for the Port Washington, N.Y.-based company.
As recently as 1985 the company's biggest prize was $365,000. But in these lottery-crazed times, that won't cut it. The prize hit $10 million in '87.
\ AUTHOR Joel Achenbach writes for the Style section of The Washington Post. Washington Post Writers Group