Why Men Do Stupid Things: The Psychological Appeal of Prostitutes

By Michael Bader, AlterNet. Posted March 14, 2008.

A psychotherapist explains what might go on in the deeper recesses of the minds of men like Eliot Spitzer.

There will no doubt be a lot written about Eliot Spitzer’s ethics, his hypocrisy and the damage done to his family, as well as discussions of the degradation that most prostitutes experience. He will be tarred and feathered for seeing a prostitute. And perhaps he should be, having broken vows to his wife, supporters and the citizens of New York State. As Spitzer takes his place with other politicians who have been busted for seeing a hooker, questions invariably arise: What is up with politicians screwing up their careers by visiting prostitutes? How can smart men do such incredibly dumb things? Does the attraction have something to do with power? Escape? Self-sabotage? For the moment, I want to put on my psychotherapist hat and try to explain what goes on in the deeper recesses of the minds of men like Spitzer.

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Is There a Dark Side in All of Us?

By Elizabeth Heathcote, The Independent UK. Posted March 14, 2008.

Maverick academic Philip Zimbardo says we are all capable of evil. Is he right?

On 28 April 2004, Philip Zimbardo was in Washington for a conference. The TV was on in his hotel room and photographs of the abuses carried out in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq by U.S. servicemen and women flashed across the screen. The images are ingrained in our psyche now, but then they were new. Naked men stacked in a pyramid with soldiers grinning alongside. A female soldier leading a prisoner around on a dog leash. Prisoners forced to simulate sexual acts on each other. A prisoner in a hood balancing precariously on a box in the belief he would be electrocuted if he moved. Like millions of others, Zimbardo was deeply shocked by what he saw, but for the professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University, California, there was a disturbing element of familiarity.

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