India – loved it, but I came back feeling so violated.

[LondonLass40]

Just back from the Golden Triangle with my husband (43) and 12yr daughter. Stunning forts, incredible food ( lucky no Delhi belly 😀) amazing history is genuinely breathtaking.

But I’m struggling to process the darker side.

One afternoon in Delhi, my husband stayed at the hotel. I took my daughter to a busy market near cannaught place in broad daylight, crowded. A man walked past and grabbed my breast. Right in front of my daughter. He just kept walking. I froze. My poor girl kept asking why he touched Mummy.

Then there was the constant selfie nonsense when my husband was there and men lining up, putting their arms around me, getting too close while my husband stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do.

And the worst part was at the Red Fort queue. This guy kept pushing into me from behind – clearly not an accident. I turned around and shouted at him. He didn't run, didn't even look embarrassed , he just walked away ignoring me like I was invisible. I spoke to a security guard who just pretend to do something and did absolutely nothing.

I know these issues aren't isolated to India and this could happen in London too. But this was so blatant, so frequent, so relentless that I simply cannot ignore it. I've been to so many tourist destinations around the world and have never experienced harassment on this scale. It felt inescapable.

I don't know – does this only happen to Western women? I'm sure men like this do the same to Indian women too. How on earth do they deal with this every single day? I honestly don't think I'd go back.

Given a pp advised solo female travellers not to go and we don’t have that issue. I think we should value that difference more.

My eyes were opened to this issue by the media response to the cologne attacks. First off it was just not reported on at all. Then the Guardian did a comment piece saying the mass sexual assault against German women was actually the women’s fault because they were white and had mobile phones.

That makes sense.
Thanks.
Sometimes those that proclaim to be feminists the loudest are not at all.

I believe Kellie Jay Keen does not describe herself as being a feminist (I am happy to be corrected) but puts herself out there as regards women's rights.

Anyway, don't want to derail the thread but I appreciate your reply.

Whaaat? Do you have a link?

Huh? Of course Roman Catholics are Christians!

www.christianity.org.uk/article/roman-catholic-christians

No, it is not. True Christians believe that salvation is only through the merits, atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Whereas, Roman Catholics believe they can and must add to that to save themselves. True Christianity recognises that it is impossible to add to what He has done, hence why Roman Catholicism is a works-based salvation. Read Ephesians 2:8, 9.

The guardian blamed the women?!?!

It’s fairly illogical to assume somebody in France is from a completely different continent solely due to skin colour.

I believe Guadeloupe is still France even to this day.

But using their ethnicity as a reference?

You clearly have not read any of my posts if you think that. I know this is a long thread so I understand why you would choose not to read all the posts.

But maybe just say you have not read it instead of making things up.

You did not mention ethnicity. You mentioned skin colour and concluded that means they are not really French despite French people being a range of skin colours.

I don’t believe you are struggling with this as much as you are pretending to. I think you’re just bored.

Again, you can (mostly not always) tell ethnicity from skin colour/how people look.

These men were not "Francais de souche"

Errrrr Catholicism is Christian.

You really can’t. But as I say you’re either racist or just bored neither of which I am interested in spending more of my time on.

It’s concerning. What women have here didn’t come easily, throwing it away is madness.

I wonder if those poorer men hold onto misogyny more tightly as it’s the one place they can have power: over women.

I saw a film years ago from Mali called “Moolade” about FGM. And it demonstrated quite clearly the distinction between rural areas and cities, the educated and less educated concerning attitudes towards FGM.

If this is the article in question it is a pretty gross take…

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/08/cologne-attacks-hard-questions-new-years-eve

“Young German women thankfully enjoy historically unprecedented economic and sexual freedom, with their expensive smartphones and their right to celebrate New Year’s Eve however they want. The same isn’t always true of young male migrants exchanging life under repressive regimes, where they may at least have enjoyed superiority over women, for scraping by at the bottom of Europe’s social and economic food chain. It is not madness to ask if this has anything to do with attacks that render confident, seemingly lucky young women humiliated and powerless. But even if it does, the answer wouldn’t be to halt immigration – even if that were possible, which it isn’t regardless of whether Britain leaves the EU – just in case a few immigrants are sexually aggressive, any more than the answer to Savile is to keep all men away from children.”

I said it has no link to culture / nationality insofar as somebody who chooses to commit a crime does not become less French.

Also I think UK crime statistics have no relevance to France which is an entirely different country.

But that’s by the by as the poster has confirmed she was not deciding people are not French based on crime but based on skin tone.

There are some on here who would subscribe to the guardian pov.

Enraging stuff.

Sadly, there are countries where women are not equal and viewed by men as available to touch etc. Disgusting.

Im sorry you went through that experienced. More people need to complain to embassies of said countries so.they might take the matter more seriously. Women in some of those countries are raped and often blamed for it. Vile.

Also, in fairness it has nothing to do with the topic of the thread so I am just helping derail it.

I visited the lovely city of Cologne a few years before the mass sexual assaults of NYE 2015. I was dismayed by what happened there and how those migrant men took advantage of Germany's tradition of communal partying.

Unwittingly, the apologist who wrote this article has given a really good reason for halting immigration from the countries where these men came from.

Thankyou for linking this article. The Guardian should hang its head in shame.

It was the drip drip drip of incidents like this that caused me to lose faith in left-wing ideology.

This is revolting