Oh dear me. Or as my Jewish forebears killed in the Nazi Holocaust would say, OY GEVALT.
Formula One's governing body is keeping its distance from sexual allegations in a British tabloid newspaper about its president, Max Mosley....The News of the World reported in a front page story that FIA president Mosley, 67, had taken part in a "sadomasochistic orgy" with five prostitutes that reportedly involved Nazi role-playing.
According to a story posted by the London-based Times Online on Monday, Mosley and others "re-enacted a concentration camp scene in which he played the role of both guard and inmate."
A video was also reportedly posted on the News of the World Web site. A check of the site Monday didn't find the video in question.
The News of the World printed pictures of a man who appeared to be Mosley, chained over a "torture" bench while being caned by a woman, and said that the acts took place in an apartment near Mosley's London home on Friday.
Right. Because we all know how Nazis gave their victims consensual canings to get them aroused. Jeez. If the guy was being murdered in a gas chamber, I might raise an eyebrow (okay, both eyebrows), but he was doing consensual SM -- maybe with some uniforms and fake Nazi nonsense thrown in to get everyone off.
But then there's another detail which complicates things even further, Mr. Mosley's parentage is an issue. A very BIG issue.
Mosley is the son of the late Oswald Mosley, founder of the pre-war British Union of Fascists.
Oh dear God, or rather, oy vey iz tsu mir.
So the son of a Nazi sympathizer is caught doing Nazi role-play with a bunch of sadomasochists. Is this supposed to be a big surprise? My guess is that the people most likely to do Nazi role-play are people who have a morbid fascination with Nazi war crimes and/or uniforms -- and that those people are most likely to be people who were affected, in one way or another, by Nazi ideology. A child of someone who aligned with fascists would seem to be the number one candidate for precisely this kind of fetish.
The reaction from many quarters now is "how dare he! the bastard!" While from certain elements of the Holocaust education community the cry rings out that he should immediately be dismissed on account o' he's depraved.
"This is sick and depraved," Karen Pollock, chief executive of the Holocaust Educational Trust, said, according to Times Online. " ... I am absolutely appalled."Stephen Smith, director of the Holocaust Centre, said: "As Mr. Mosley has condemned the racism in motorsport he should live up to the standards he sets. This is an insult to millions of victims, survivors and their families. He should apologize. He should resign from the sport."
I have news for this Mr. Smith (and what kind of a Jewish name is Smith anyway? that's about as Jewish as Brame. Only I'm a Mrs. with the excuse that I married a Brame. Is Smith's maiden name as distinctly Jewish as my humble Yiddishe Glickstein? Hm).... Anyway...I have news for Smith, whatever his religion.
I AM NOT INSULTED! I am the child of Survivors, and I am totally NOT insulted that someone had a Nazi sex fantasy and chose to enact it (one hopes safely) with other consenting adults. So please do NOT speak for me. That is just presumptuous.
I realize that there are indeed many who object to Nazi play. It is always a hot topic among SMers, raising a lot of violent emotions among Jewish SMers who react much as Ms. Pollack, feeling appalled and horrified that people could find it erotic.
To them I must say: nu, so get over it already. We can't help what turns us on. And coming from a world where "Master/Mistress/slave relations," "dungeons," "torture" and so on are commonplace -- essentially playing with themes of medieval abominations and American pre-Civil War slavery - how exactly (and why) do you draw the line at Nazi fantasies? Is a medieval dungeon really a happier, safer, saner place than a concentration camp? Have you ever VISITED one (a real one, in Europe) to see the unrelenting horror of those places?
What one man, raised with conflicting emotions (clearly) about fascism does with his penis and other body parts on his own time, and in private, does not in the least bit bother me. Why the fuck should it? To anyone who understands anything about sexuality, the fact that someone has a far-flung or bizarre fetish based, possibly, on the mixed messages (or even thrilling jack-off fantasies) about Nazis, means ab-so-fucking-lutely nothing about the choices they make in their social, religious, or political lives.
You don't choose a fetish. You can't cure a fetish. A fetish just IS. It isn't an indictment of your moral character, no matter how weird or morally unappealing to other people. It isn't a reason for you to lose your career. What counts in life is what a person does in the WORLD, not what he or she -- through a series of forces that no one can explain - gets off on in bed.
To me, the most depraved aspect of this story is that reporters or photogs actually followed this man around to snoop on his private sex life.
(Thanks to Will and to Todd for the link)
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