The media takes delight in gleefully exposing the sordid details of political sex scandals. Catching a politician with his trousers down is one sure-fire way to ruin a reputation. Last week in America the unfortunately-named Democrat Anthony Weiner was forced to resign for ‘sexting’ a twenty-one-year-old with an image of his crotch. Obviously the affair is highly inappropriate and embarrassing, especially for his newly pregnant wife. However, in this case the only injured party is Weiner’s wife, and it forces us to ask: should a politician’s private life remain private? In the good old days, kings could take mistresses and no one so much as batted an eyelid. But Bill Clinton’s affair, investigated and uncovered by Kenneth Starr, seemed to open the flood-gates to a new age of revealing political sex scandals.
Before the nineties the public had perhaps turned a blind eye to the somewhat promiscuous lives of the nation’s rulers, but the advent of social networking, intrusive media and an increasing fascination with life behind the curtains of 10 Downing Street marked the beginning of the end for assured privacy. Some even welcomed this chance for a bit more media attention, using their private family life to appeal to the public. Advertising and branding himself as a dependable family man certainly worked for David Cameron, wafting around the impeccably dressed SamCam on his arm during the length of his campaign.
There is an argument for holding politicians to higher moral standards than celebrities or footballers. While the stars of Eastenders exist only to fill our magazines with salacious gossip, our politicians and world leaders are responsible for the running of our nation. As Bill Clinton was to discover, being President while cheating on his wife with a White House intern was not viewed as effective time management by the American public. As President Obama commented on the Weiner scandal, “when you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can’t serve as effectively as you need to, you should probably take a step back”.
Calling it “a personal distraction” highlights the key problem: it is not the act itself, but the fact that it distracts a politician from doing his job that is condemned. In American history, Presidents Franklin D.
Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy were allowed to get away with extra-marital affairs as long as they were boosting American economy and adding to the glory of the USA. The British public, meanwhile, were horrified not so much by Jacqui Smith’s husband possessing porn, but the fact it had been claimed on expenses. Touting family values and producing picture-perfect children also raises another problem with political sex scandals: that of hypocrisy. How can we take advice from leaders who denounce single-parent families while shagging the housekeeper (Arnold Schwarzenegger)? It is the sheer hypocrisy of it coming from politicians that so infuriates us. A politician should always practice what he preaches, or risk stoning from the congregation.
So as long as our politicians keep their private lives private, and their life behind the curtains does not impair their politics, I see no reason why a sex scandal should be anything more than that, a scandal. Anthony Weiner’s resignation seems an overreaction. To put it another way, as long as YUSU President Tim Ngwena keeps the office running smoothly, we really don’t want to know what he gets up to on a Ziggy’s night.