“Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.”
--Henry Kissinger
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte’s libidinous lips-to-lips kissing with a married overseas Filipino worker (OFW) during a public ceremony in Seoul, Korea recently earned him world-wide condemnation and sparked a debate at home on the propriety of such acts.
Instead of being apologetic for his outrageous acts, President Duterte takes pride in his being a womanizer and a playboy to the delight of his fanatical followers.
The sexual demands of authoritarian rulers and despots are nothing new but had been recorded throughout history. In the book, “Sex Lives of the Great Dictators,” author Nigel Cawthorne chronicles the sexual exploits of powerful rulers.
The author recounts the “bedroom conquests and bizarre sexual antics of the men in history who just wouldn’t take no for an answer, from Napoleon’s trysts with Josephine, through a century of fascism, totalitarianism and sorts of tinpot dictators, right up to Ferdinand (and Imelda) Marcos.”
The book vividly recounts the sexual exploits of scores of dictators and strongmen in different epochs but constraints of space impel us to mention only a few with their sexual antics.
Aside from being a known womanizer, there was a great deal of speculation that Napoleon was gay. He tolerated homosexuality in the army and refused to outlaw homosexual practices in his Napoleonic Code. Many men wrote of his “seductive charm.” A general put it more succinctly: “In moments of sublime power, he no longer commands like a man but seduces like a woman.”
Adolf Hitler, the most evil man in modern times, was believed to be a homosexual. Gestapo head Heinrich Himmler confirmed that Hitler had syphilis. Renate Muller, a beautiful German film star, and who went to bed with Hitler, narrated that Hitler was a masochist.
On April 29, 1945 when defeat was imminent and the Russians were advancing in Berlin, Hitler and Eva Braun married. The following day, in Hitler’s study, Eva and Hitler bit into vials of poison and shot each other in the head.
Ferdinand Marcos, Philippine dictator from 1972 until 1986 when he was ousted by People Power, was a known womanizer. Before he married Imelda Romualdez, he had already a common-law-wife, Carmen Ortega, with whom he had four children, the youngest having been born when he was already married to Imelda. Marcos had also a love affair with pretty Filipina singer Carmen Soriano.
But the most talked-about affair was with American Dovie Beams, who surreptitiously recorded their love-making sessions. She played one of the tapes that featured cracking bedsprings, murmurs, moans and Marcos singing his favorite Ilocano love song.
If power is the ultimate aphrodisiac, no wonder dictators and strongmen will never give up power. – Democrito C. Barcenas