Mass sexual assaults in Cologne on New Years Eve

[Cellardoor1]

I've just read this and I'm shocked that such a thing could happen. A group of around 1,000 men gathered and assaulted at least 60 women and girls and also pickpocketed people. Apparently the news wasn't released until now out of fears it could stir up tension as the men appeared to be of Arab/North African appearance, possibly refugees.

abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/cologne-police-chief-condemns-sex-assaults-years-eve-36083833

mum2mum99
all men (and women) need to be educated as to consent not just 'foreigners'

ugly reading these stories i feel like crying with anger and frustration. .

DD (and her year group) had an illuminating day on this very subject when she started uni. Said she wished the girls and boys school had had the talks when they were 13
No point anyone getting on their high horse regarding race and consent to sex, since the UK has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the world because consent isnt fully understood by boys or girls

"No point anyone getting on their high horse regarding race and consent to sex"
Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.... You think that this is what this discussion is about? People on their high horses?

What a strange comparison re teenage pregnancies. There are so many socio-economic and cultural and what not reasons for high teenage pregnancy rates in the UK. It's a bit simplistic to just boil it down to ignorance of 'consent'.

Funny. We are not talking about race. We are talking about men from certain cultures having little or no inhibition wrt to women, viewing women as lesser than them, seeing no wrong in inserting their fingers into a stranger's vagina en route to wherever they are headed.

I have not seen any posts stating that only xyz races commit sex crimes.

Maybe sansoora is referring to me as I have contributed quite a lot on this thread but I don't think there is any benefit by checking and pointing out what other threads posters have contributed on.

Im so sorry but I think your posts must have passed me by.

funny your DD is being educated. In a co-ed environment without fear of being killed because she wants a degree.

You've completely missed the point.

Please re-read this thread, it's very important that you try and understand it is a cultural not racist issue.

Have you ever lived anywhere outside the UK?

High horse? How silly.

So all the stuff on 'inbetweeners' is treating women as anything but a sex object?????

I'm not condoning the station incident for a moment but the West doesn't treat women anywhere near as well as it thinks. There are more women execs in South Asia, etc etc. Treating women well, whetehr it be at a station on NYE or in the workplace or in family life is a global issue and needs support from every government and the Mayor of Cologne is being very weak in this regard

Where I have lived outside the UK women were and are treated very well indeed. However, as in the UK, how a person is treated depends on social class, environment, a persons nature etc. Germany clearly needs to do more to protect women.

I'm not German, but I want to defend German (ethnically German) men for a minute. I lived in Germany for a while in my late teens. I was young and pretty 25 years ago. I was never groped or harassed on the street. I was smiled at, had doors opened for me, and my bag carried, though. Frankly, I found that sort of attention rather charming. I've lived on four continents and imho German men are some of the best mannered around.

It's unfair to say that the lack of laws against groping are a signal that Germany is misogynistic. Perhaps it's a signal that street groping hasn't been much of a problem up until now.

sorry, on tr

Train FFS. Will try later!

Interesting: I have walked up and down Oxford Street for decades sometimes on a daily basis, I have never been harassed by anyone.

I have walked on one of Istanbul's best known shopping streets (forgot the name) on two different visits. I was groped and propositioned to several times on both occasions. The second time I was there it was winter and I was wearing a warm coat and boots so not much skin on display. That time I was alone and I would say that dodgy looking, random men tried to get close to me every few metres. .

I think people who say that this behaviour is not cultural are ignorant or in denial.

2016IsANewYearforMe - that is nice and I'm glad you've had this sort of experience. I've been living in Germany for over 20 years and I assure you that street harassment and groping are alive and well. I have not spoken to a single woman here who has not experienced this. Check the hollaback link I posted earlier. The law as it stands prevents women from reporting sexual harassment as in most cases there is nothing to report since no offence has been committed. There is no point in bemoaning other cultures' misogyny and lack of adherence to laws governing sexual harassment and consent if street harassment and groping are largely tolerated by society and by the law.

funny just because we can do more as a nation or continent doesn't negate that what has happened here has a connection with the cultural background of the perpetrators towards women: to deny this is disingenuous at best.

We can always do more to improve equality and human rights: essentially, your argument seems to be that because this is the case, we should not fight for greater rights elsewhere also, because our nations are not perfect

Some of the posts in the latter part of this thread, on page 26, are exactly the kinds of arguments present in feminist literature where privileged, white, westernised feminists are accused of navel-gazing while the rest of the world's women suffer. It's a fair point. Patriarchy is a global feature and women's lives are generally difficult. However, to compare my difficulties in life around childcare, putting on more washes relative to my husband, being somewhat held back at work because I can't put in the same hours as my single, male colleagues, with women's lives in other parts of the world is ludicrous. I'll keep my life, with all its 'difficulties', any day of the week.

??? hefzi What a strange conclusion to jump to

1. The conduct of the men was rubbish
2. The police response at the time was rubbish
3. The local and national German govt response is rubbish
4. Current German law doesn't appear to protect the women adequately

www.breitbart.com/london/2016/01/05/cologne-mayor-women-careful-migrant-mass-rapes-promises-guidance-can-prepare/

I read that many of these attackers were already known to the police, and were not drawn from the recently-arrived refugees.

It was based on your posts about how there are problems elsewhere and how we don't "treat women anywhere near as well as it thinks" up the page: but your latest post with the numbered points makes it much clearer - thank you, and apologies for misunderstanding what you were saying

Waterwitch1 "Women should be more careful..." Utterly outrageous. 'Their' hands are tied, though. They've been bought off (did ME states bail out the banks during the 2007 crash??? That's my latest theory). Why else these crazy words?

batshit - its that fact that led me to question the narrative that this was 'asylum seekers'. Something more was going on in the interplay between German culture and other cultures of settled immigrants, the attitude to sexual assault in Germany and women in general.

I think the discussion over the last few ages has been very enlightening.

ugly - I am reading the posts in your link. Grim.

ABetaDad it's interesting, but until today, no-one had made the distinction on this thread about whether or not these are recent immigrants, or whether they are second/third generation.

I don't think, in the case of this thread, at least, an anti-immigrant narrative has hijacked the issue of sexual assault: people are, quite rightly, commenting on the nature of cultural attitudes towards women, but I don't think anyone has linked this specifically and negatively towards the wider question of immigration. People have commented on issues concerning integration and values, however - but this isn't the same thing.

I'm not sure how the popular British press are reporting it - I read a report late on Monday (?) night, but haven't been paying much attention to the UK press after that.

You can fuck off with your links to breitbart, nasty little website.