Dark narcissism: why so many powerful men are paedophiles, abusers, and rapists

“Why would I need to rape anyone, I’m rich?”

I’ve met a powerful man that I think is a sociopath. Not in that TikTok ‘he didn’t thank the waiter” way, in that way that sends your blood cold. It’s like being in the room with a crocodile; it is watching you, it doesn’t care what you feel or what you want, it is eyeing you up to feast on you. You’re a thing. People are means to an end, emotions are weakness, suppression is control, compassion is stupidity, and success and pleasure are the only motivators. I watched him in silence as he insulted me for hours at 2am in Paris, knowing I couldn’t leave, boasting at great length about how powerful he was. “Do you know who I am?” he said, gesturing grandiosely to himself. “Do you know what I do, the level of clearance I have? Who I know in the UK government? Do you have any idea what I can do? How easy it is to track and follow everything you do?”

What had I done to bring on this cascade of narcissism? I’d told him I wanted to go home, after feeling uncomfortable. When he saw the fear in my eyes, and I’d begged and begged him to stop scaring me, he put down his glass. Incredibly, after saying all that, he wanted me to have sex with him. Honestly, I would have done anything to get out of there and as far away from him as possible. I just endured it, knowing that this had been the plan all along, and he’d planned this; planned to frighten me, plan to humiliate me, plan to get me…