Women of Brooklyn, Don't Hide Your Butts

There's been a rash of disturbing sexual assaults in Brooklyn over the past few months involving tiny Mexican men jumping out at young women and groping them. It began in Bay Ridge and Sunset Park earlier this summer and continued throughout the southern end of Brooklyn in Park Slope. Most of these attacks have fit the same pattern: a short, Latino man with dark hair in his 30s (and is it any wonder that the search up until this morning has mostly turned up nothing? That description fits every Mexican in New York city) follows a girl in her 20s or 30s (or late teens) from a train station and either grabs their ass or breasts or engages in some other type of pervishness. From what I understand, this guy (or guys) is not out to actually rape any of these girls but gets off on the sick, cheap thrill of grabbing and running. If not, then they are really, really bad at rape. They don't get past first base before the victim hits them over the head with her purse and they scurry off into the night to plot their next attack or their early morning shift making salads at Pax. In no way am I trying to belittle these poor girls who have been attacked though. These assholes are the lowest form of scumbag, well, maybe not the lowest but they're pretty skeevey. Some controversy has arisen over how women should combat these attacks though. Recent urgings by the authorities of women to cover their butts have been met (understandably) with resistance and scorn by women's groups and most people I've talked to. The ol' "she was asking for it" defense doesn't fly today, and it's true that women shouldn't have to worry about their mini skirt from Forever 21 setting off sick impulses in South American men they pass on the R train. I don't agree with the slut walks, which seem to think that it's a woman's right to literally dress like a prostitute and basically act like a whore (that's pronounced who-uh) and seem to mostly be made up of chubby girls in their underwear, but I do think that telling a girl she shouldn't dress in a certain way because it will attract gropers is wrong. If girls have to stop wearing skirts because a handful of dirtbags can't keep their paws to themselves then the terrorists have won. Or at least the Mexicans have.