Andrea Peyser, leave Anne Sinclair alone!
Photo by Stephen Jaffe/IMF
Andrea Peyser at the New York Post seems to have something against not only Dominique Strauss-Kahn, but also his wife, Anne Sinclair. Because Sinclair has stood by her husband through all his trials and tribulations, Peyser calls her a “dingbat” and a ”pathetic doormat” (more than once) and asks “If he could possibly respect her…Can any man respect a woman who allows herself to be used, and reused, like a wrinkled Kleenex?”
As someone who has, admittedly, only been watching this case in the media, I have a lot of respect for Anne Sinclair, and I would imagine Strauss-Kahn does as well. He did publicly thank her after his charges were dismissed, saying, “I am most deeply grateful to my wife and family who have gone through this ordeal with me.”
In addition to being the wife of DSK, Sinclair is a famous journalist in her own right, as well as the granddaughter of Picasso’s art dealer. The two were married in 1991 when they were about 42 years old, and they have no children together, although both have children from previous marriages. Although DSK has a well-deserved reputation for being a womanizer, he has, to his credit, been honest about this to the public and to his wife – warning her before they got married that he was an “incorrigible skirt chaser” - and she doesn’t seem to mind too much. Over the years, Sinclair used her wealth to help finance her husband’s political career and purchase various expensive homes for them to live in, and she came to his rescue when he was arrested in New York, posting his $5 million bail and finding a luxurious townhouse for him to stay at while under house arrest. She has been perhaps his most stalwart supporter, proclaiming his innocence when he was first arrested, appearing at his side at every court hearing, and voicing her anger at the people who turned their backs on him.
I don’t see what’s wrong with any of this. Many people look down on Strauss-Kahn because of his numerous affairs, and possibly also because his and Sinclair’s relationship does not fit the popular (and anti-feminist) ideal that a man should protect and provide for his wife. Successful in her own right and much wealthier than her husband, she seems to love and accept him the way he is, regardless of what the public thinks of him. In other words, she seems to think for herself instead of submitting to society’s ideas of what men and women should be like.
I’m not sure why Peyser equates this with being a “pathetic doormat” and “allowing herself to be used.” Would it be better to mindlessly go along with what society tells women they should value in a man? Quite the contrary. Anne Sinclair is a very admirable person. She is more of a feminist than the hordes of people who automatically condemned Strauss-Kahn as a rapist, and far more intelligent, classy, and respectable than a mean-spirited tabloid columnist like Andrea Peyser.