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

I haven't seen many, if any, replies on thread saying to keep them all out. Most people are saying what you've just said Luna, that it's not all Muslim men. Most people would hate to see genuine refugees suffer. Letting in whoever wants to come unchecked, is a recipe for disaster though and we are seeing the evidence of that.

Our society doesn't have a perfect attitude towards women but when was the last time 1,000 men gathered for the purpose of assaulting them?

Yes hidden, on the whole. But we will if we have to. The suffragettes resorted to terrorism when all else failed.

Toomuch thanks for the link. Here's the google translate version, if anyone's interested (the translation is a bit flaky, but you can get the general gist):
Why a no is still not enough

I think one thing that comes out from this thread is that it's naive to look for a single cause. The cultural background of the perpetrators played a part, so did weak policing in Cologne, a country-wide lack of police resources, appallingly weak laws on sexual assault (and a lot of history - I think gastarbeiters have been mentioned a couple of times on this thread, but it's important to remember that the reason some earlier immigrants didn't integrate was because they weren't allowed to - denied citizenship and exploited to do the crappy jobs no-one else wanted to do). A bit like Rotherham, where again the cultural background of the perpetrators mattered, but so too did a massive failure in policing, a terror on the part of some in power of being seen as racist, and class prejudice on an epic scale - the victims being dismissed as trash who'd somehow chosen to be sexually exploited.

Merkal has a lot to answer for

Bloody hell "If she said No or was crying, this is not enough. Section 177 [of the rape law] says she must have been forced by one of three means: The perpetrator threatened violence; used violence; or have got her in a vulnerable position with no escape. If none of these conditions were met, no crime of rape or sexual assault was committed."

Good to see Germany is urgently reviewing its law on these matters.

Of course, Germany's law on sexual violence did not cause the mob attacks. The fact that they happened is the real problem.

But it certainly clarifies why victim reports were slow to appear, and probably indicates a social environment in which passers-by would be slow to intervene (if they had an opportunity.)

Women are renowned for protecting their children and fighting back and rising up when their kids are threatened. I see this incident as a threat to our daughters. My 19 year old daughter was celebrating New Year in a city centre - a city where she normally feels relatively safe and trusting, and this could very likely have happened there. It's this kind of violation that gets my goat and makes me want to say enough is enough, and if the men aren't going to do do anything about the women sure will.

I would first of all want to know who the fuck are these gangs of men. They may in fact be all Muslim and immigrants or Syrians - it doesn't matter but I would want to know the truth - who are they ..and go on from there ..

However, I didn't assume all people from this ethnic group were twats.

And neither has anyone on this thread assumed that, so who are you arguing against?

I mean seriously, how hard is it to understand that discussing negative attitudes to women in a particular culture is not the same as saying that ALL men from that culture hold such attitudes.

It's really not that hard.

There are also a lot of white young men that attack women. Is an aspect ofour culture to blame?

Er, yes. This is discussed a lot on here, whether or not our own culture facilitates violence towards women. So your argument doesn't work.

And will you please stop confusing race with culture. No one here gives a flying fuck about race or skin colour except you. It's culture, not DNA, that is the concern here.

Seriously agape at that Garlic

I knew this would fuel the right wing nutters though. Katie Hopkins already has her talons in the pie

"I actually think Luna's arguments are helpful in illustrating which way society is going: soon (now?) women who are assaulted and give a description of their attacker that describes the attacker's ethnic origin will be deemed racist. She may even be prosecuted. This is where political correctness is leading us. And this is where lots of people say: STOP, too far We have found the limit of political correct thinking."

Baby I like your take on Luna's posts and I agree with. This thread has been my first experience of openly talking about sexism from migrant communities. It has been very enlightening and interesting but more than anything I feel like there are others who see what's happening and who are fed up with it. There should never ever be another 'Rotherham' where those in charge refuse to address the ethnic community implications, thus enabling the abuse and rape of our most vulnerable young girls. It is simply too evil for society to turn a blind eye and let disempowered children down. Wishing the end of PCness is not something I fancy too much either as we women benefit very much from open sexism being discouraged by PC codes of conduct. However, PC should never stand in the way of truth or in the way of identifying and punishing criminal behaviour.

Luna has the best of intentions, I'm sure; I also think she is quite self-congratulatory for not assuming "all people from this ethnic group were twats" when she was called a slut. I absolutely detest bullying behaviour of any kind towards anybody. I don't want to see a Muslim man humiliated by a Neo-Nazi and the thought of this happening makes me sad and sick. I definitely do not want any woman attacked or humiliated by men whoever they are.

I am bloody glad that we can talk here about women feeling unsafe or harassed by men. I am also glad we can talk and share experiences about feeling uncomfortable when groups of men intimidate women and challenge enabling behaviour and discourse.

I have a 15 year old daughter who is severely autistic, she never leaves the house without an adult to look after her. It makes me sick to my stomach that this could happen to her and I would be unable to do anything to protect her.
I never believed that it would get this far. I thought European governments would have woken up by now and started to protect their own people, but obviously they don't care.
I can understand why people support Donald Trump in the states now, as much as he is a massive arsehole.

Good post Pink

I think the genie is out of the bottle and it is now time to debate this openly. The media need to stop being scared shitless and address what's going on. It seems that few will actually speak up for women so we must continue speaking up for ourselves. And refuse to be drawn into the right/left arguments that derail the main point of this thread, which is that we will not give up our freedoms; we won't be blamed for being attacked. We wont.

The mail are discussing this now. They right winger's are out in force. The defence of Women is from the aspect of possessions, "our Women"

The other papers will in time start discussing it.

Maybe from the viewpoint of it being a terror attack, that the Men were recruited and organised to carry out a new style of attack. It also as has been said, stems the flow to the West, they have their radicalised here and many people trapped in Syria dying of starvation. www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/syrian-government-aid-enter-starving-town-160107145500227.html

I did read the Mails' articles, including Hopkins' one, which were bad enough. I just can't bear to read the comments. Def disillusioned by the Guardian; it's not fucking good enough

Why is forced penetration (digital or with a penis) not considered in German law to be violence in and of itself? What do they define as "violence"? I would have thought the assaults in Cologne tick all three boxes anyway.

Just scanned the front page of the DM and also the latter pages of this thread. Cologne, Australian police have covered up similar, Rotherham. Why the cover ups? What do the governments want that citizens don't? I would like to hear from a government figure if anyone has come across anything like that in their reading.

I don't know Venus, but not a law written or passed by a woman, I would proffer

'Australian police have covered up similar'

I think it was Austrian

Quite right Polenta.

The Australian police are too busy covering up rape of immigrants by Australians ...

"Def disillusioned by the Guardian; it's not fucking good enough" Can you explain a little bit more? I am unable to see comments on the Guardian website.

"Pinkchamp, you are still deliberately misinterpreting what I said or are just very dim."

Yes that must be it.

Luna not one person has mentioned skin colour. Stop trying to make it about that.

Yes, I meant 'Austrian'. Apologies. Big typo.

My comment refers to the fact that all we have is speculation, which can get wild. My ultimate aim is to work out where we are heading with all of this...