A group of women in a violence
plagued area of the Philppines came up with their own weapon to end the
fighting – a sex strike.
They withheld sex from their husbands
until they promised to quit fignhting. Their stand helped end clashes in July
between villages in rural Mindanao Island. Women from one of the villages came
up with the idea of a sex strike as a way to help rebuild their village and bring
peace.
Many of them were fed up with not
being able to deliver their products due to the violence that closed down a main
road between the villages. The women wanted their husbands to end the fightings
and by using their feminine wiles they succeeded in enforcing their wish.
The idea of holding sex for a cause
is not a new one, the ancient Greek play Lysistrata tells the story of women
who organised a sex strike to end a war between Athens and Sparta.
More recently, a strike was launched
in 2006 in the Colmbian city of Pereira, known for its drug trafficking and violent
crimes. The strike was implemented by wives and girlfriends of gang members to
get them to change their life style and hand over their guns.
A similiar campaign was carried out
by women in Kenya in 2009 to protest the growing divide in Kenya’s coalition government.
Source: Daily Sun Tuesday, September 20, 2011 Pg 15
