Playing Powerful
By Rana Ballout
I shudder at the very idea of agreeing with Henry Kissinger. For one thing, the master Machiavellian has a vision of life, politics and a world order that does not fit with either my rosy complexion or the shade of glasses I like to wear. But the old spin-master has uttered an uncontestable truth – power is, far and away, “the ultimate aphrodisiac.” Curious that in light (and in spite) of the former US secretary of state’s echoing effect on the world, it is this idiom that remains his most remembered and regurgitated pearl of wisdom.
A recent study carried out by psychologists in the USA has found a definite correlation between power and attraction. Apparently, men in powerful position exude a certain je ne sais quoi that transforms them into lady-magnets. (Women in power are far too intimidating for the average male. Margaret Thatcher, Condoleezza Rice, anyone?) You know you’re powerful when you exhibit low levels of inhibitions by throwing caution to the wind and believing in your own set of rules and regulations. When your inhibitions are close to extinct, you apparently attain super-hero status, making you fearless and audacious – in a blink of an eye you are free from your human chains to shake society and make people stop and listen. It can also magnify certain personality traits, make you even more self-loving if you have narcissistic tendencies or that tad more benevolent if you’re charitable – all things, it seems, that will have women fall at your feet whether you look like a fit super-actor or a portly politician.
Just picture it. You are French President Nicolas Sakorzy basking in the love- and media-rays of a gorg eous Italian model/heiress/singer as the sun sets over Egypt’s Red Sea. You are Cesar swashbuckling his way into history. You are even Salahuddin Ayyubi who shrugged off his riches but whose steadfastness and faith marks him as one of the region’s best loved leaders. You are an uncompromising and hygiene-challenged Che Guevara (the revolutionary’s ethos apparently did not extend to daily showers) reeling in the conquests.
You know you’re a force to be reckoned with if you display the following distinct behaviour, “… [the] powerful act with great daring and sometimes behave rather like gorillas,” observes psychologist Cameron Anderson. No need to cringe at the comparison, our furry friends may be seen as aggressive and fearsome but they are also known to be gentle souls subsisting on a vegetarian diet, if you don’t count some culinary experimentation with the insect world.
Which brings me to my final point. Whether you’re living in a hut or in a palace, one truth stands out more than others. Human nature has evolved little since our forefathers learned to stand up straight and cover themselves.
Neither for that matter has our foremothers’ need for protections and posturing. A woman looks for that particularly ferocious hunter who can bring home the best bacon in town and do it while trampling on all other wolves in the pack. Something Kissinger may have known a thing or two about?
