Posted on 01/22/2008 10:19:42 AM PST by NormsRevenge
MEXICO CITY – Mexico City has started a women-only bus service to protect female passengers from groping and verbal abuse common on the city's packed public transportation system.
Millions of people cram into subway trains and buses in the Mexican capital, one of the world's largest cities, and women have long complained of abuse from men taking advantage of overcrowding to sneak in an inappropriate grab.
“One time a man stuck his hand up my skirt. They grab your butt ... It's gross,” said 27-year-old office assistant Lourdes Zendejas, who waited 20 minutes during the evening rush hour to catch one of the new buses.
The special buses pull up at ordinary stops but have large pink “women only” signs on the front and side.
They were added to two busy routes last week and the city government plans to expand the program to 15 other routes by April.
Mexico City's transport system, which also includes hundreds of privately operated “micro” buses, carries twice as many riders as New York's.
“We were constantly receiving complaints of women being leered at, kissed or followed,” said Carlos Cervantes, spokesman for the city's public bus system.
Mexico City already had reserved the first three cars in subway trains for women and children but this is the first time the model has been tried in buses.
Women using the new service Monday had space to sit down and giggled as the driver turned away men at the door.
“This is wonderful. Men never give up their seat for us old people, no one is a gentleman,” said 73-year-old Beatriz Perez, whose bulging shopping bags were tucked under her seat.
But not everyone was convinced that having only women would make the ride more pleasant.
“Women can be aggressive too,” said telephone operator Rosa Maria Vargas, 42, traveling with her 9-year-old son. “When it gets really crowded, I've been pushed and punched before by men and women.”
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Stupid.
Women-only buses are no more acceptable than Whites-only or Men-only buses would be.
If women want to travel without the company of men — buy a car (the same thing I do for the privilege of traveling without the company of drug addicts and homeless derelicts). Public transportation is just that — public.
H
Maybe its time they started offering this special service in the DC area. They could even add in "non-groping convenience stores".
I predict this will become a women and transvetite/crossdresser bus service.
“The special buses pull up at ordinary stops but have large pink “women only” signs”
Are the Mexican men able to read the English words on the signs?
And perhaps “non-groping” Capitol Hill bars, too.
Maybe a new choice for restaurants, too - “Groping or non-groping?”
Discrimination is just the beginning of it: it simultaneously paints men as criminals, women as defenseless and groping as a normal behavior that can only be contained by segregation. And of course paints the goverment as the supreme force that can save the world. Another awesome idea by the party that Obragore built.
Maybe we can outsource public-school-bus transportation to the Mexicans as well.
what the heck is he doing??? i hope thats a fake...
Almost every young, attractive woman I’ve talked to about public transit is hesitant to ride it for just this reason. They’ve all had bad experiences at some point, so this is a problem in the USA, too.
They could slap some black paint on the windows and pretend that they are in an Islamic country.
100% real - he’s massaging the shoulders of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. It got a lot of negative press at the time because Merkel looked uncomfortable with it.
This is what the greenies want for all of us non-greenies. Of course they’ll be special because of their important work and will need to be driven around in bullet-proof limos with drivers and staff (slaves).
“Stupid.
Women-only buses are no more acceptable than Whites-only or Men-only buses would be.”
In a free country, all of those types of buses should be allowed to run by a *private* company.
I agree, I can see why this would be needed.
>> In a free country, all of those types of buses should be allowed to run by a *private* company.
Agreed. But we’re not talking about a private company — we’re talking about public transportation.
H
>> Almost every young, attractive woman I’ve talked to about public transit is hesitant to ride it for just this reason. They’ve all had bad experiences at some point, so this is a problem in the USA, too.
Perhaps there are groping problems. Throwing individual men off buses is an absolutely reasonable response. Banning all men — guilty and innocent alike — from public buses is not an acceptable solution.
H
ping
So, if a woman gets on a regular bus, will she now be considered to be reporting for grope duty?
that does seem a little creepy to me... but i dont know the whole story i guess, she does look uncomfortable though...
I thought libs hated generalizations like this but I guess that only applies to the death penalty, law breakers, sodomites, feminists and anyone they deem.
>> I thought libs hated generalizations like this but I guess that only applies to the death penalty, law breakers, sodomites, feminists and anyone they deem.
Generalizations are always acceptable when made by a “oppressed” class ... Duh!
Personally — I know for a fact that the only woman I’ve ever groped on a public bus was my wife. And she giggled.
H
"Tard" refers to the ping list members and not to the subject of the thread!
List of Ping Lists
Not fake.
A BIG outcry when he did it.
Sometimes he is embarrassing. But we managed to get past it. :)
Maybe non-groping Capitol offices?
Nah. Never happen.
Abuse of women by the Mexican Machismo is rampant!
Mexico Enacts Law on Domestic Violence
By E. EDUARDO CASTILLO, Associated Press Writer
Feb 1, 2007
President Felipe Calderon praised on Thursday a new law that obligates federal and local authorities to prevent, punish and eradicate violence against women, and he promised a “relentless” fight against gender-related abuse.
The law — enacted with its publication in the federal register — does not drastically change how violators are currently punished. But it symbolically underscores the government’s recognition of a scourge that is widespread but often ignored in this traditionally macho society.
Officially, the law is the first federal measure combatting domestic violence and other abuse against women, [snip]
“I said it during my campaign and I repeat it today that I will be a president who is relentless in the fight against gender-related violence,” he said during a ceremony at the presidential residence. “I am worried and hurt by intrafamily violence and, of course, murders for reasons of gender.”
Mexico has drawn international attention over the past decade with the murders of hundreds of women whose bodies were found in the desert outside Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.
A special investigator appointed by Calderon predecessor Vicente Fox concluded that 379 women had been killed from 1993 to 2005, for reasons ranging from sexual violence, intrafamily violence, revenge, robbery and fights.
The law also calls on states and cities to modify their criminal and civil codes to impose harsher punishment on those who perpetrate violence against women.
http://www.wunrn.com/news/2007/02_07/01_29_07/020407_mexico.htm
Ha ha ha ha ha! I have also done some groping of my wife on the transit in DC! I think that here in CO many women young and old alike would rather have the ogle-free super-markets!
Not sure what any of that had to do with public transit.
Enforcing reasonable laws is a good thing — mandating punishment (i.e. being barred from certian public transportation) against innocent men is not.
H
This is already done in Japan, Egypt, India, Russia, Taiwan, and the Philippines, and soon in South Korea on trains. It’s been in Japan for years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women-only_passenger_car
“Women can be aggressive too,” said telephone operator Rosa Maria Vargas, 42, traveling with her 9-year-old son.
In our local city, women have told me about the significant number of aggressive lesbians cruising on city buses.
Mexico city has a system in place where you can only drive your car on even/odd days, based on the last digit on your license plate. On your non-driving days people still have to get around.
Worst
idea
ever.
(at least from my perv-of-view)
We were in Tokyo last February. The tour guide suggested to my husband, that on the subway, he keep his hands up so as not to be falsely accused.
>> Mexico city has a system in place where you can only drive your car on even/odd days, based on the last digit on your license plate.
OK. Stupid — but, OK.
>> On your non-driving days people still have to get around.
Presumably, men are among the people that “still have to get around”. Barring them from certain public buses is unacceptable.
H
It’s been a long time coming, but worth it!
Are the men lobbying for a “grope only” bus?
I’m sure they wouldn’t mind the ogling so much if only good-looking men were allowed in the supermarkets. :-)
That will never be outlawed, mark my words.
In a free country, all of those types of buses should be allowed to run by a *private* company
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Good luck with that one...hey, even in the height of J Crow they only used one bus...
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