Following Dominique Strauss-Kahn's indictment on 19 May, the trial to come may or may not establish "the truth". But the story will certainly keep unfolding – or rather the stories. First of all, there is obviously a sexual narrative, in both senses of the term: the scandal is inseparably about gender and sexuality. The transatlantic contrast is evident to all, as it was at the time of the Monica Lewinsky affair. While French commentators have revived the familiar puritan myth against American society, the American press once again wonders, "are French women more tolerant?" – meaning: of sexual misconduct, at least by powerful men.
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