XX Factor: the blog

Sex and Blackmail

Hanna, Linda, the parallels are amazing between the David Letterman blackmail story and the the New York Times exposé of how Sen. John Ensign was pressured by the cuckolded husband of his lover. In both, a powerful man is told unless he comes up with $2 million, the story of his cheating will be made public, and in both the perpetrator is the significant other of a woman who worked for the powerful man. Ensign went for the coverup and payoff then was forced to confess—in one of the dreary “I have sinned” press conferences—when when the cuckold went to the press. Letterman (who seems to be flypaper for wackos) went straight to the D.A. then told the story in a weird, funny, compelling monologue. Ensign is a hypocritical, moralizing jerk. But unless Letterman makes a condition of the employment of female subordinates that they have to sleep with him—well, gee, if celebrities can’t have affairs with willing, adult women, what kind of world is this?

 

 

 

Tags: blackmail, David Letterman, polanski, sen. john ensign

Emily Yoffe is Slate's Dear Prudence and Human Guinea Pig (emilyyoffe@hotmail.com)

Comments

at the risk of not being funny . . .

By: P Starling | Mon, 10/05/2009 - 10:33

A powerful person having sex with a less-powerful subordinate puts the subordinate in a potentially coercive situation. But even if that's not the case--even if both parties are 100% thrilled by the affair--the situation is damaging to other employees, since it essentially gives a competitive edge to the employee who is attractive to the supervisor and who is willing to put out. So employees who aren't willing to trade on sex or on sex appeal, or who don't have the opportunity to do so (not of the desired gender, too old, not pretty enough) are being shafted.

I should be able to go to work without feeling like my willingness to be sexually available is going to affect my ability to earn a paycheck. There is a long and disgraceful history of employers considering themselves entitled to their female workers' bodies. This attitude made it difficult for women to enter the workplace, and it continues to make it difficult for us to achieve real workplace parity, both in promotional opportunities and in salary.

One of the perks of being a (male) celebrity is that there are plenty of willing adult women falling all over themselves to sleep with you. And--bonus!--most of them don't work for you.

So if I'm the boss and an

By: stand828 | Sun, 10/04/2009 - 23:02

So if I'm the boss and an attraction develops with someone who works for me, could we have consensual sex if I fired her first?

Yecch

By: kcs2c | Sat, 10/03/2009 - 18:02

Not sure why you italicized "adult" instead of using the word "employee". There are lots of good reasons why you shouldn't sleep with the help.

How did their sexual relationship affect her career? Was she relegated to doing his errands so she'd always be around? Was she given a plum overseas assignment for spending time on the casting couch? Were other people in the office denied opportunities because they weren't boffing the boss?

I saw one ratings estimate...

By: janeslogin | Sat, 10/03/2009 - 09:43

... that said by the time the Letterman's program aired on the West Coast ratings may have gone up 22%.

well, gee, if celebrities

By: you know it is | Fri, 10/02/2009 - 20:10

well, gee, if celebrities can’t have affairs with willing, adult women, what kind of world is this?

Yeah, it totally defeats the whole purpose of being a celebrity in the first place.