Frederic Mitterrand, French Minister, Fights For Job After Boasts Of Sex With Young Boys

John Lichfield | The Independent

The new French culture minister, Frédéric Mitterrand, is fighting to save his brief ministerial career after opposition politicians expressed disgust at his autobiography, in which he justified sex tourism and admitted "paying for boys".

Mr Mitterrand, 62, the nephew of the late president, François Mitterrand, was thrown on to the defensive after rival MPs homed in on memoirs in which he described his delight in visiting Asian brothels.

The revelations, in his 2005 best-seller La Mauvaise Vie (The Bad Life), were unearthed by far-right politicians angered by his outspoken defence of the film director Roman Polanski, who was arrested in Switzerland for extradition to Los Angeles to face charges of having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977.

Socialists from the party created by Mr Mitterrand's uncle also voiced outrage and suggested that his three-month tenure as Culture minister should be brought to an abrupt end.

The furore is deeply embarrassing for Nicolas Sarkozy, who claimed to have struck a blow for "political openness" when he brought Mr Mitterrand, who is openly gay, into his centre-right government in June. The choice was reportedly influenced by the President's wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who has been trying to broaden the her husband's cultural horizons.

Continue reading at the Independent.

Comments

[S1m0n]

The book itself is variously described as a novel, an autobiographic novel, or a memoir, which would seem to indicate that it is a deliberate mix of fact and fiction. The Independant article linked above opts for the unequivocal "autobiography", making no mention of any element of fiction in the work. I suspect their certainty on this point is unwarranted. Mitterrand's publisher classifies it as an "autobiographical novel", which leaves the 'is it fact or fiction?" question up in the air. I don't think the facts thus far on the record support the conclusion that this was some kind of confession.

[Horst]

The French call these people Bobos...bourgeois bohemians...just like the radical chic, limousine liberals so prevalent in the US during the 60's and 70's.

[nadinesellers]

Having abstained from commenting for a while, i return to a burning topic. Ouch, are French morals on the platter today? With a side order of international mores...I'll take mine rare please.
Politics and sex have much in common with money; they find the weakness in the foundation to penetrate the subject. So why is there an uproar about personal lives of appointed officials of one country, when there is rampant corruption in the halls of most local institutions?

Mr Mitterand has come to the defense of a cinematographer of dubious character, yes. The French minister of arts and culture was defending the artistic record, not the one instance of behavior of Mr Polanski.

As the public is engaged in attacking sexual mores, many will lose jobs and health due to useless distraction; let us please focus on our own morals, take care of our own, wherever that may be, whomever they may be.

[Horst]

Your point seems to be that one cannot criticize pederasts. I guess in your universe they should be a protected group. Cultural relativism at its worst.

[hallowellboy]

Sounds exagerated and rather yellow.

[gbrooks]

This world is a complete mess.

[Paulo1]

Oh my, there is absolutely no chance for an objective look at this as we have now thrown in the Unspeakable Crime.

But oh well, I'll give it a shot. Do we know the actual circumstances, the age of consent, the inferred age of the "boy", the legality? Have we examined the hypocrisy of condemning sex tourism while allowing brothels in so many European countries? Are we debating age of consent statutes which can vary all over the map worldwide. Nope. Someone said someone else is paying for sex with boys and we are now all morally indignant. Forgetting of course that we let the Catholic church off with a wrist slap a wink and a nod.

If guilty, try him and put him in prison. Otherwise stop throwing around the inflammable language of the witchhunt.

[ThomasinFrance]

These european countries with legalised prostitution have rules, protection, the sex workers have social security, a legal status, retirement...
In souhteastern asian countries, they are exploited, receive maybe 2% of the money they are paid, the rest goes to their bosses, their bosses' bosses.

This is not a witchunt, it is a basic case of breaking the law - casting aside moral issues- and Mitterrand said word for word that he recognises having gone several times over there to pay for sex.

This is sex tourism as long as it includes repeated trips to an underprivileged country with as only goal the purchase of sex. How can he shake hands with the Sarkozy this morning and be a member of the government having that in his past?

[S1m0n]

Most americans seem to assume that their nation's age of consent (18) is some kind of universal constant, when the reality is that the age of consent varies quite a bit around the globe, with 18 being at the higher end of the range. In Canada, for instance, our AofC was recently changed from 14 to 16 for all acts other than anal sex. The latter is legal at 18, and the distinction is a legacy from a more homophobic age.

The A of C also rises to 18 if the older participant is in any position of authority over the younger, such as a parent, teacher, employer, coach, pastor, or scout leader.

[goto1000]

Russell Brand is quite a hit in the US at the moment. he too is not a hypocrite and has written about his own boyhood (17 I think) experiences in Thailand, with his father of all people, who introduced him to prostitutes. He describes in quite similar language his total addiction. I think it's in 'My bookie-wook' - I read an excerpt in the paper.

Frankly, I prefer people to be open and honest about it. The theorising that follows that every prostitute is a slave is based, for most commenters at least, on absolutely no evidence whatsoever, as far as I can tell.

And again, rather than worry about a French citizen who did something you disapprove of in Thailand, why not check up on Mr Foley for instance. Where's he now? Was he prosecuted?

[Yves Papa]

Le Pen did not add "young" ("jeunes") if front of "boys" ("garçons "). It's in the original text.

"La profusion de jeunes garçons très attrayants et immédiatement disponibles.."

French is my native language. In French "Garçons" usually refers to a minor male. It is rarely (but sometimes, yes) used to refer to a young man, and more significantly, to a restaurant or coffee shop (cafés) waiter. Actually if an adult man is called a "Garçon" he will be usually offended, unless only of he is called for waiter service in a bar/restau­rant/café.

However Mitterand definitely wrote "jeunes garçons" and that means "young boys", and these are children.

[SneathLane]

You are going for the dictionary definition, and ignoring the slang use of language, where in some groups men refer to each other as boys and women refer to each other as girls.

He has said the actual ages of the men were close to his own. That alone is not enough, but it also turns out that no one who knows him thinks he's interested in young boys, and no one has found any example of him having sex or even expressing sexual desire for young boys. Ever. And reporters and his political enemies have been trying really, really hard to find actual evidence that he's anything other than he says - which is innocent of the accusations against him.

This is a tempest stirred up to smear him. It's being promoted by people who think that all gay men are pedophiles. Disgusting.

[fcsakes]

The right wing appears to have a wingnut branch in France.

[UnePetiteParisienne]

Sorry to burst your bubble but Mitterand is no right-winger ...
Sarkozy has several left-leaning members in his government 'as part of is "strategie d'ouverture" some say, or also as a tactic to further diminish the already eroded influence of the "Parti Socialiste" in France).
And by the way, by American standard, Sarkozy would probably be much closer to a blue-dog democrat than to any republican (even moderate).

PS : for the record, I am no Sarkozy fan and did not vote for him

[fcsakes]

and I'm not talking about Mitterrand.

[UnePetiteParisienne]

Who then ?

[Ziploc]

This article from the Independant is completely biased and false.

Mitterand's book is ficton, although laced with autobiographical events. It is entitled "La Mauvaise Vie" (The Bad existence.) and is in no way intended as an apology for prostitution or pedophily, any more than "Of Human Bondage" is an endorsement of degradation, servitude, and the depths to which a human being can fall through weakness of character. If anything, Mitterand's book is a condemnation of it, and will be perceived as such by those who have actually taken the trouble to read the entire work, not just a few salacious passages that are printed up in yellow journalism, such as this.

Mitterand made his point of view perfectly clear, in a lengthy interview on French television.

If he defended Polanski, in the wake of an incident that shocked more than one (consider the thousands of signatures on petitions to the Swiss government decrying the arrest), not so much for the principle of obliging artists to be held accountable for their misdeeds, but rather in protest of the sleazy and politically motivated manner in which the affair was handled, it was in his capacity as Minister of Culture. Mitterand is obliged, by his function, to protect the country's artists. He does not endorse pedophily, which he decries loudly.

Mitterand's is brilliant and articulate. His words are more to be taken seriously than those of the author of this lurid article and the ignorant insults of many contributors to this post.

[World Citizen]

"Mitterand's book is ficton, although laced with autobiographical events."

Really?

Then, his editor made a big error allowing this book to be categorized as a 'Biographie' in 2005.

http://www.evene.fr/livres/livre/frederic-mitterrand-la-mauvaise-vie-13607.php

La Mauvaise vie de Frédéric Mitterrand [Biographie]

Editeur : Robert Laffont, Publication : 21/3/2005

[Ziploc]

World Citizen that you are:

have you never learned in school to differentiate between a "biography" (which can most certainly be a work of fiction, and often is) and an "autobiography"?

If not, I suggest you look both words up in the dictionary, and when you have learned their definitions, we'll talk.

[World Citizen]

And again, under Biographies

http://www.librairiepantoute.com/livre.asp?id=pzpejubwabsa&/la-mauvaise-vie-suite--/frederic-mitterrand/9782266182416

Auteur Frederic Mitterrand, 2008, LA MAUVAISE VIE, SUITE...

It's only now that the notion of this book being a fiction has come up.

[UnePetiteParisienne]

I agree that maybe the jury is still out on this one and that some people might be too willing to lynch Mr. Mitterrand.
This being said, you also have to admit that his book, while being a - maybe partly fictionalized -autobiography is at best very ambiguous...
I do not deny Frédéric Mitterand's intelligence, wit or talent (even Polanski's harsh critics do not deny the guy's talent either) but we you say "Mitterand's is brilliant and articulate. His words are more to be taken seriously than those of the author of this lurid article and the ignorant insults of many contributors to this post", you should not forget than examples abound of highly-talented or intelligent bastards (while we're talking of France, Celine or Guitry for instance ?).
Let's not equate intelligence or talent with human decency.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/08/frederic-mitterrand-frenc_n_313653.html

[World Citizen]

"Let's not equate intelligence or talent with human decency."

Well said. This 'human decency' and 'moral boundaries' is the 'crux' of the matter, as far as I am concerned. Not any right-wing nut, or scary american...

[ThomasinFrance]

Ziploc,

Mitterrand has not once denied the fact that he went to souteastern asian countries to have sex in exchenge ofr money. He did tell Florence Ferrari that he is not a pedophile, which is true, but he openly admitted to have had sex with poeple over there thanks to his dollars.
Now, is that not encompassed in chart against sexual tourism? Paying someone who is of legal age, whether they are 18, 25 or 40 is still exploitation, domination of the body through financial power.

He may be brilliant and articulate, but in no way deserves the function he occupies as Ministre de la Culture, of minitre of anything for that matter. He is a sexual tourist who went to an underpriviledged country and paid for sex. That is lawfully and intellectually wrong. A Culture Minister is a legal and intellectual representant of the French Republic.
What does he represent?

[Ziploc]

A pseudo biography is fictional, just as a thinly disguised autobiography can be written as the autobiography of another person (Alice B. Toklas's biography of Gertrude Stein.) In case you never heard of it, this practice is called 'artistic license'.

As for Mitterand's having payed for sex with consulting adults (a practice he now regrets as degrading for everyone concerned): take one good long look at yourselves before you start casting stones. How would the so-called "morally upright" of this nation, who rant and rave about the purity of their moral standards, really hold up under close scrutiny?

Mitterand was appointed, not elected. His appointment is based on his enormous culture, superior intelligence, literary and oratory skills. I, for one, do not give a fig what he does in his bedroom on his own time, and neither should you - even if there are those who would use his admissions as political fodder. If you are more comfortable with hypocritical public figures, who make a career of saying one thing and doing the exact opposite, you'll find plenty of them in the Republican Party.

Would we not be far better off taking the log out of our own eye, before we start preaching to other nations from our shaky pulpits?

[Horst]

Enjoyed your comment about "consulting" adults....LOL.

[UnePetiteParisienne]

Here is the original French excerpt (available on Wikipedia/La Mauvaise vie), translated by moi :

I took the habit of paying for boys (or young men). Obviously I read what has been written on this trade (...) the poverty, the generalized pimping, the mountains of dollars it makes of which the kids get only scrapings, drugs that damage them, illnesses, the sordid details of such traffic. But it does not prevent me from going back. All these rituals of ephebes fair, of slaves market turn me on enormously (…). Such a spectacle can only be judged as abominable from a moral standpoint but it pleases me more than is reasonable (…). The abundance of very attractive and readily available young “garçons’” (boys) is putting me in a state of desire that I no longer need to restrain of hide. Money and sex, I am at the center of my system, one that finally works as I know I won’t be denied/rejected.

[UnePetiteParisienne]

And the original quote in French for the francophones among you :

"J’ai pris le pli de payer pour des garçons [...]. Évidemment, j’ai lu ce qu’on a pu écrire sur le commerce des garçons d’ici. [...] La misère ambiante, le maquereautage généralisé, les montagnes de dollars que ça rapporte quand les gosses n’en retirent que des miettes, la drogue qui fait des ravages, les maladies, les détails sordides de tout ce trafic. Mais cela ne m’empêche pas d’y retourner. Tous ces rituels de foire aux éphèbes, de marché aux esclaves m’excitent énormément […]. On ne pourrait juger qu’un tel spectacle abominable d’un point de vue moral, mais il me plaît au-delà du raisonnable […]. La profusion de jeunes garçons très attrayants et immédiatement disponibles me met dans un état de désir que je n’ai plus besoin de réfréner ou d’occulter. L’argent et le sexe, je suis au cœur de mon système, celui qui fonctionne enfin car je sais qu’on ne me refusera pas"

[UnePetiteParisienne]

OK, here is the excerpt form the book "La mauvaise vie" (the bad life), translated by moi :

I took the habit of paying for boys (or young men). Obviously I read what has been written on this trade (...) the poverty, the generalized pimping, the mountains of dollars it makes of which the kids get only scrapings, drugs that damage them, illnesses, the sordid details of such traffic. But it does not prevent me from going back. All these rituals of ephebes fair, of slaves market turn me on enormously (…). Such a spectacle can only be judged as abominable from a moral standpoint but it pleases me more than is reasonable (…). The abundance of very attractive and readily available young “garçons’” (boys) is putting me in a state of desire that I no longer need to restrain of hide. Money and sex, I am at the center of my system, one that finally works as I know I won’t be denied/rejected.

[goto1000]

I have to also point out that
1) Foreign languages aren't your strongest suit over there
2) Garcon, 'hé, les gars' etc.... can be roughly translated as 'guys' and does not necessarily imply children.

So. Indeed, here we have a man who is not a hypocrite, and at least is open about what he does. It may not be to your taste, but it is not illegal, as far as I know.

Those calling for his jailing (from the United States). Before you deal with French people who do something you don't like in Thailand (which recently rejected your extradition request for Victor whatsisname, the Russian arms dealer you tried to pull a sting on - in someone else's country - bad move) I'd check whether or not your own Mr Foley has been prosecuted (for a start).

[sheaintsayin]

Oui!

[EducatedObserver]

It is my understanding that Mr Mitterrand clarified his use of the word "boy", and explained that all the gentlemen prostitutes whose services he engaged in Thailand were adults and "within five years of his own age".

While this is hardly a fragrant admission, in the absence of contrary evidence, and in light of the fact that this information has been in the public domain for some years as the result of Mitterrand's own book, we must assume that President Sarkozy was aware of and satisfied with his culture minister's bona fides.

Interestingly, M. Mitterrand has come out fighting, and has accused his inquisitors of equating homosexuality with paeodiphelia.

Like him or not, what his clear is that this witch hunt was orchestrated by Mitterrand's enemies as revenge for his Polanski support.

[World Citizen]

Like I said, all it takes is one 'young man' from Thailand to come out in the open and explain 'the age' issue of these 'jeunes garçons' that FM had contact with...

[ThomasinFrance]

The problem is not about pedophilia, and has never been. Marine Le Pen actually added the word "young" in front of "boys" when she uncovered the scandal on TV.

The problem is about sexual tourism. Mitterrrand went to a poor country and paid for sex. The people he said he did that with were around his own age.
So what? Is that not still an exploitation?

France signed a "charte" with the southeastern asian countries to fight against sexual tourism.

Miterrand runs free, and shakes hands with Sarkozy this morning. What it this country?

[goto1000]

Yes, but prostitution is legal in Thailand isn't it? You cannot really then decry 'sex tourism' involving adult prostitutes. It is totally inconsistent.

Incidentally, I fully support legalised, open prostitution, quite simply because it is by far the best way to protect the workers and secure them the same employment rights everyone else has. Criminalising it simply drives the problem underground and makes things infinitely worse.