to be worried about my daughter's future safety in Europe as a young secular woman?

[rodriguez66]

I have a 6 year old daughter. I can't stop worrying about whether it will be safe for her in Europe in the future as a young woman after the sexual assaults all over Europe. I hate to think that she would not be able to enjoy the freedoms I take for granted as a woman and I do not want her to have to hide her femininity because some men cannot control themselves. I want her to be able to dress how she wants when she is older and be able to speak her mind without being scared. Is this completely irrational? My husband thinks I am worrying too much but obviously he is not a woman.

YANBU. It's already pretty bad in a lot of cities but it's only going to get worse in the next 10-15 years. Demographics is destiny.

Urban areas will be increasingly unpleasant for women, but with luck the countryside may be OK for a few more decades.

The one thing we can do for our daughters is not mislead them about the nature of the danger. Pushing the egalitarianism of "all cultures are equal" and "we're all human beings and all want the same things" just sets them up to be lambs to the slaughter.

126 young women were gang raped in NYE in Cologne. What happened was awful and the cover-up was reprehensible, but I think exaggerations like this are unhelpful.
OP I think that we are hearing about more assaults now because Cologne has been in the news. I don't think we are less safe than we were a few years ago or that we will be significantly less safe in 10 years. It's a perception issue.

cardi 1000 men co-ordinated mass sexual assault of women - how are we not "less safe"?

I'm worried about all women, right now, everywhere. It is not ludicrous to worry about this. Shit happens to women every day. OP the reality you're scared of is here already. I have had direct and repeated experience of it.

I have 2 little girls and worry that what I experienced in egypt is being imported to Europe under the guise of multi culturalism. . We need to wake up.

This x 100. All the do-gooders and liberal lefties are too nice for their own good. This country will be unrecognisable 15 years from now. It's fucking scary. These people do not value women and see them as second class citizens. They do not want to live in peace and harmony, they want to harm us with their barbaric views.

Pretty staggering to read someone saying that sexual assaults aren't new.

As if co-ordinated mass sex attacks in a European public square aren't a new, utterly horrifying phenomenon.

FFS indeed.

These people do not value women and see them as second class citizens. They do not want to live in peace and harmony, they want to harm us with their barbaric views.

Sorry but have to say you can't tar everyone with the same brush and I don't think what you said is fair. Obviously it applies to the perpetrators of Cologne attacks but this is hysterical & unnecessary and if that's all you meant then fine, but it sounds like you're referring to e.g. the refugee crisis ("multiculturalism").

I think you have good reason to worry. I feel the same about my 2 young adult daughters and this mustn't be allowed to happen here. Yes there is always sexual crimes but not on a large scale like this.

Yanbu I am fearful too for my daughters. I have female cousins in Hamburg who feel very intimidated and do not go out alone at night anymore. That is the reality I hear about.

YANBU. Multiculturalism doesn't work. These barbarians from Cologne should be sent back.No more such "refugees"

Keep talking about it,soft soft approach of Europeans should be replaced with hard shove.

Hermione -I've said it was horrific. Women were clearly less ace that night, but it isn't something I'd worry about happening regularly for the next 10 years. You could as well say we are less safe in the underground because of 7/7. It's a theoretical truth but doesn't affect people in any practical way. Fowers I knew someone would have a go at 'do-gooders' (why is that an insult? Would it be better to be a do-badder?) and lefties and have a racist pop at 'these people'. Which people? All Muslims? All men? All non-White men? If people. Commit crimes,we should deal with the criminals, not start making sweeping statements.

So because sexual assaults have always happened I should not be worried? Sorry but the scale of recent sexual assaults is what terrifies me and the fact that they seem to have been orchestrated en masse and used as a weapon not just to sexually attack women but to send a message about male dominance and that women should know their place. It just feels like womens rights are being eroded in the name of tolerance (why cover up the attacks otherwise) and it scares me that those in power may sacrifice womens rights in order to avoid a cultural confrontation. I just have to hope it doesn't spread to the UK.

It's no good, some of the refugees, economic migrants have values that belong in the past and if they cannot behave then a relocation package somewhere else should be implemented (not in Europe). Our liberties should be priority.

Women in Germany are scared. I have a family friend, she's tiny, 5ft3 and slim, and she's bought a pepper spray and does not feel happy walking around by herself

Yanbu
I think a lot of us are worried about the future in this way
I notice you put the word "secular" in your title
There's an awful lot of issues being swept aside under cover of religious privilege and that worries me too
Alas, we can't predict the future but even as a pessimist I hadn't considered some of the stuff we've seen recently
All I can say is be as vocal and active as you can in the hope of combatting the problems.
I don't have children but I do have good relationships with my friends' kids and we all fret about this.

Equine all women in Germany?

My dh is from a north African origin and I'm greatful to have sons not daughters.
If this country ends up like his country God help all women.
His auntie used to tie up his cousins to stop them going outside on their own.
Why the women except it I don't know.

• accept

The mass sexual assaults are worrying. And depressing. But I hope you don't literally mean you can't stop worrying about your 6 year old daughter going to Europe when she's older. That sounds less like a sobering view of current affairs and more like intrusive thoughts and anxiety.

If you are able to stop the constant thinnking about it I would do so. It's a bit pointless and a waste of headspace to fixate on a hypothetical scenario. If you can't stop, you may need some help.

If sexual assaults by anyone are being tolerated and not punished, then that is an issue that needs to be dealt with.
Conspiracy to commit an offence is another offence.

The fact that these assaults are not being punished is not because of "liberal lefty bullshit".
Its very fucking worrying.

If immigrants commit an offence, they are bound by the same laws as everyone else.

This is like the predators who were given access to childrens homes then allowed to get away with it IMO.

Women and children are targets, always have been and probably always will be. We have to stick together and condemn it, and shout for something to be done about it.

Not try to score political points.

It's very uncomfortable but any woman who has travelled alone in North Africa will probably have experienced what I did. Large numbers of unaccompanied young men brought up in that culture, with no jobs and feeling displaced - recipe for disaster.

As a European woman I put my and my daughters hard won right to live freely in our own country higher than rights of migrants to import their own culture. I am not racist but that is how I feel.

In the German newspapers today there are reports of asylum seekers, in a public swimming baths in Saxony, who shat in the children's swimming pool and masturbated in the hot tub. They had to be physically restrained from accessing the female changing rooms and jeered and laughed at staff who tried to gain order and safety for the women. A refugee volunteer has spoken of her dismay at how she was initially so delighted to be able to help people in need but is now utterly disillusioned. She has had to change her already modest way of dress to one of wide legged trousers, high neck tops and no makeup to try to prevent them from harassing her. She has reported that a fellow female volunteer was recently threatened with decapitation. She speaks of men knowing no boundaries and of ignoring anything that the female volunteers tell them because they totally disrespect her. The woman has openly admitted that she has had to alter her whole outlook on the way she dresses, thinks and speaks. In the meanwhile, MuslimStern pressure group has told Germans that they should ban alcohol if they want to stop the rape of women. No mention of men, of any colour, creed or religion respecting women. I think OP is right to be apprehensive about the future for her daughter.

TBH I think she's probably more at risk from men in general than refugees.

YANBU.
The rape statistics in Sweden and Finland have grow like never before since they opened their doors. They are traditionally women-friendly countries, very safe. Problem is, they have applied their own ethos of not behaving like pigs to the people they welcome, and begin to reap the consequences. Women that have enjoyed for decades the right to feel safe have now to kiss it goodbye, in the name of "Refugees welcome".

So yes, you see piece by pieces what made some of those welcoming countries disappear, because mixed-sex saunas, swimming pool, entertainment centres are acceded now by people that do not understand the country they are in, and that do not want to.
We women pay the price, because we are always expected to pay it, to put up or shut up. Except now, it is not because of conservative movements or parties, but because of liberal lobbying.
As a woman that has reaped the benefits of the women's liberation, thanks to liberal thinking and fighting, I feel betrayed.

When you have groups like MuslimStern, who are supposed to promote good relationship and integration for Muslims in Germany, explain that alcohol should be banned, because it was the catalyst for the attacks, along with women being dressed lightly, like prey before predators, you get to ask yourself many questions about the future.

KERALA1 -As a European woman I put my and my daughters hard won right to live freely in our own country higher than rights of migrants to import their own culture. I am not racist but that is how I feel.

You might Kerala, but do our politicians?