Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin was infuriated this week by news that a member of Pussy Riot participated in an orgy at Moscow’s state biology museum and put it on the Internet. He called the act of uploading it “controversial” and “subject to legal evaluation.” But at least he apparently appreciates the benefits of group sex. “Some fans say that group sex is better than one-on-one because, like in any collective work, you can take it easy a bit,” he said in an interview.

John F. Kennedy

JFK was the only president to win a Pulitzer Prize and successfully led the U.S. through the Cuban Missile Crisis. But the 35^th president also developed a novel method for curing head pain. At a summit with British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan, Kennedy reportedly once said, “I wonder how it is with you, Harold? If I don’t have a woman for three days, I get a terrible headache.”

Bill Clinton

He may not have mentioned it in his recent Democratic National Convention speech, but Bill Clinton once taught the American people a novel approach to lying about love affairs. “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is,” he told the grand jury. “If the—if he—if ‘is’ means is and never has been, that is not—that is one thing. If it means there is none, that was a completely true statement … Now, if someone had asked me on that day, ‘Are you having any kind of sexual relations with Ms. Lewinsky?’—that is, asked me a question in the present tense, I would have said no. And it would have been completely true.”

Silvio Berlusconi

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was famed for his bunga bunga parties and affairs with women—both young and old. He once joked, “When asked if they would like to have sex with me, 30 percent of women said yes, while the other 70 percent replied, ‘What, again?’” But he claimed he draws the line at prostitution and refuses to pay for sex, saying, “I never understood the satisfaction is when you’re missing the pleasure of the conquest.”

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

The former head of the IMF has admittedly led a promiscuous lifestyle and stood accused of sexual assault in New York City last year, but he steadfastly denied soliciting sex from prostitutes at swingers’ parties in France. Though Strauss-Kahn admitted to attending said parties, his lawyer offered very important advice that applies to anyone attending such a party. “As you can imagine, these kinds of parties you’re not always dressed, and I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman,” he said.

Prince Philip

Prince Philip, husband to Queen Elizabeth II, is Britain’s longest serving consort. But that doesn’t mean he has the highest opinion of the institution of marriage. “I don’t think a prostitute is more moral than a wife, but they are doing the same thing,” he once said.

Muammar Gaddafi

The Libyan dictator did not just like sex; he reportedly had a literal Viagra addiction. He was said to have once had sex with four women before meeting with Prince Andrew for trade talks. It’s even rumored that Gaddafi was the one who taught Berlusconi the phrase “bunga bunga.” But it turns out that all this made Gaddafi something of an expert on women. He even wrote about women’s health issues in his Green Book. Notably, he discovered that “Women, like men, are human beings.” But his insights did not end there. He wrote, “Women are different from men in form because they are females, just as all females in the kingdom of plants and animals differ from the male of their species … According to gynecologists, women, unlike men, menstruate each month … Since men cannot be impregnated, they do not experience the ailments that women do. She breastfeeds for nearly two years.”

Edgar Faure

Many French leaders have been famous for an almost-ravenous sexual appetite. But former prime minister and “president of the council” Edgar Faure found a snazzy title was the best way to avoid ever being rejected by a woman. “When I was a minister, some women resisted me. Once I became president, not even one,” he said.

Fidel Castro

Fidel Castro had a secretive, but legendary sex life. The dictator himself once described his large group of illegitimate children as “almost a tribe.” One of his former officials estimated that Castro had slept with 35,000 women in his life (at least two women a day for four decades). And the official even thought that Castro’s sexual appetite had kept him in power. “I don’t think he would have stayed on as long as he did if not for all the incredible women he had access to as president,” the official said.

Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was the longest serving British monarch and the Victorian Era has become almost synonymous with sexual repression. In fact, Victoria refused to legislate against lesbianism because she thought it was physically impossible. But the queen herself liked sex quite a bit and called her sexual relationship with her husband, Prince Albert, “heavenly love-making.” She liked it so much that Prince Albert reportedly took to hiding behind a locked door, while she would bang on it screaming, “Open this door! I am the queen!” They eventually had nine children, but after the birth of her youngest child, her doctor, Sir James Reid, advised her against any more pregnancies. The distraught queen betrayed an ancient idea of birth control in reply, saying, “Oh Sir James! Am I not to have any more fun in bed?”

King Henry VIII

King Henry VIII was famed for his numerous affairs and six wives; he is equally famous for having some of them beheaded. In fact, when his fifth wife was beheaded, Henry threw a party with 26 women seated at his table. He even sent the artist Holbein abroad to paint potential lovers. But even Henry had his limits. When the father of Anne Boleyn and Mary Boleyn offered his own wife to the king, Henry replied with wise words: “Never with the mother.”