No men:

March 11, 2001 4:58 PM

No men: A night without street crime and domestic abuse! Goodness knows it's about time, but with Australians, Blacks, and Koreans about it's - unfortunately - only a matter of time. Thank you.
posted by holloway (28 comments total)

Colombia always struck me as a fun-filled country. And now don't we have lots of Americans helping out to make the place more comfy so all that coffee can be shipped to our supermakets?
posted by Postroad at 5:02 PM on March 11, 2001

I'm sorry -- I read this post's comment about "Australians, Blacks, and Koreans" about 20 times and I have no idea what it means. Could you please explain?
posted by argybarg at 5:05 PM on March 11, 2001

If all Australians, Blacks and Koreans are criminals then all New Zealanders are racist sheep-shaggers. Thank YOU.
posted by tuesday at 5:19 PM on March 11, 2001

argybarg: no.

tuesday: yes.
posted by holloway at 5:36 PM on March 11, 2001

Wow -- incoherent and truculent!
posted by argybarg at 6:02 PM on March 11, 2001

most snobbishly incoherent thread ever
posted by dagnyscott at 6:24 PM on March 11, 2001

So You Want to be a Pariah.
posted by EngineBeak at 6:30 PM on March 11, 2001

Interesting fact: In london at some point in the past couple of years 25% of assualts on women were carried out by other women. Unless I'm misremembering it.
posted by davidgentle at 6:34 PM on March 11, 2001

"Many fathers should do this kind of activity with their children without a special night," said Mockus, who once strutted about Bogota in red and blue tights calling himself "Super Citizen" and posted mimes at stoplights to taunt reckless drivers.

What's the postage on a mime these days?

posted by rodii at 6:52 PM on March 11, 2001

Hey, this article is on Mo's list!
posted by lagado at 6:58 PM on March 11, 2001

As an Australian married to an African I can't tolerate the sort of unnecessary comment made by holloway even if it is made as a joke. What silly, stereotypes you must believe in!

Excuse me lashing out at New Zealanders, no offense to any of them I assumed, maybe wrongly, that holloway was one.

As for the article. Yeh, you go girls!!


posted by tuesday at 10:21 PM on March 11, 2001

Wow! A non-funny joke, complete with horrible grammar! Holloway, you should be proud!
posted by ookamaka at 11:17 PM on March 11, 2001

Ok so the article neglected to mention that next week will be mens night out without women,a week after that they will be reunited. I think this idea is awesome.

rodii: Last time I posted a mime to a Columbian street corner it cost me 55 cents and a rubber chicken.
posted by fiery at 12:14 AM on March 12, 2001

I guess so. Yes.

It's disgusting that innocent people are being told to stay indoors and sneered at when they leave. Similar statistics of violence (at least in New Zealand) are found for blacks/white however - I believe - people would damn anyone who joked about putting a curfew on blacks. I don't think that as it's just one night it's OK, either. This is disgusting.

Tuesday: Oh you. I must believe in silly stereotypes? Well, you seem to have me pined. I'm one of those believing that no one should be prejudged because of the way they're born.

---

Apologies for my awful grammar (and spelling, no doubt).
posted by holloway at 12:37 AM on March 12, 2001

This is about more than just reducing street crime. This is about empowering women. This was a statement about the power that women have to do something good for themselves and society.

I think its a cool idea.

Let's note that not all the men who went out were jeered. Also, the curfew was totally voluntary.
posted by locombia at 2:34 AM on March 12, 2001

My vote for the next verb to be retired: "empower."
posted by darren at 7:35 AM on March 12, 2001

Holloway, I thought your original post meant that, with Australians, blacks and Koreans about, crime-free nights would only last for so long. Now I think I understand you meant: If you start by banning men, soon you'll ban everyone else.

Glad that (eventually) that was clarified.

But what a silly point. It looked like it was a fun night -- and I'm a man. Lots of women I know get sick of men picking up on them while they're out -- they don't think it's evil, they're just tired of it. Many go to gay bars to dance so they can avoid it. I bet that, if I were a woman, I'd love one night with my guard down.

Besides, I can't even imagine a night of only women resulting in mob scenes like we had in Seattle a couple of weeks ago.
posted by argybarg at 7:37 AM on March 12, 2001

... unless Nordstrom has a 70 percent off sale.
posted by darren at 8:04 AM on March 12, 2001

"...and even break-dancing in the city's central park until well after midnight. "

Wow... they still break-dance in Colombia?? What a cool image -- a bunch of women break dancing at midnight. I have several friends who go to a women-only health club for the same reasons these Colombian women enjoyed their night without men. More power to 'em.
posted by apollo at 8:53 AM on March 12, 2001

Holloway: This isn't a punishment. Mockus is making a point, that in his city, crime is more prevelant among men. In fact the statistics that he is using state that men are 14 times more likely to respond violently to a situation. He says he wants to learn from women how they protect themselves from violence, by not reacting violently to everything.

And as i stated earlier, next week is mens night out without women. I admire the man for having the courage to do wacky things like this without caring that some ppl are gonna hate him for it. People are paying attention....Even the U.S. is paying attention, and he didn't have to have sex with an intern or commit genocide, to get our attention.

Hes making a point, with a harmless VOLUNTARY curfew. Hes not even blaming anyone, hes just making a point.
posted by fiery at 9:50 AM on March 12, 2001

Oh yes and al thos concrened aboot bed gramor and splling shoold join this movement
posted by fiery at 10:05 AM on March 12, 2001

Um, Apollo, "they" still breakdance in America, ya know.
posted by ookamaka at 11:01 AM on March 12, 2001

Instead of further separating and dividing people, why not encourage and find ways to teach people how to get along without the problems. If I were a Columbian man, I'd be really irritated that walking down the street left me open to harassment and taunting -- how is this a good thing? If I were a Columbian kid, I'd be really irritated that it takes some stupid special women's night to get my dad to spend a Friday night at home with me. If I were a Columbian wife, I'd have to rethink my motivation for leaving my husband and kids at home just because some politician said that I should go out and have fun somewhere that night without them. The whole thing is just misguided and ridiculous.
posted by Dreama at 1:58 PM on March 12, 2001

How can you presume to comment on Colombian society when you don't even know how to spell the name of the country, Dreama!

Even in the US, I think we could benefit from something like this. Remember the million-man-march? We have plenty of single-gender activities and they are sometimes quite useful.

All I ask is that you not cut down what you do not understand.
posted by locombia at 4:13 PM on March 12, 2001

If I were a Columbian man, I'd be really irritated that walking down the street left me open to harassment and taunting...

With all due respect, Dreama, I get the feeling that you'd pretty much be irritated no matter what. :-)

With all the horrible things that happen in Colombia on a daily basis, it amazes me that people let something like this get under their skin.
posted by jpoulos at 7:18 PM on March 12, 2001

Fiery: This isn't a punishment. Holloway is making a point, that in his city, crime is more prevelant among blacks. In fact the statistics that he is using state that blacks are 14 times more likely to respond violently to a situation. He says he wants to learn from whites how they protect themselves from violence, by not reacting violently to everything.

And as i stated earlier, next week is blacks night out without whites. I admire blacks for having the courage to do wacky things like this without caring that some ppl are gonna hate them for it.
posted by holloway at 4:47 AM on March 14, 2001

Oh darn! Pesky quoting got it all wrong! We were prejudging innocent people on gender... not race. Sorry about any confusion caused!
posted by holloway at 4:49 AM on March 14, 2001

Sorry, I tend to conflate Colombia (a nation that I've never been to) with the Columbia that drained me of the marrow of the best years of my life.

And yes, jpoulos, I would be irritated no matter who was being told to stay home and who was out in the streets breakdancing for no apparent good reason - just because of some half-assed government initiative that is nothing but divisive. It's irritating when nitwit politicians create stupid programs that make people feel all giddy inside but do absolutely nothing to address real problems or find a solution for them.
posted by Dreama at 8:26 AM on March 14, 2001