Miniskirt ban in New York City

No, this story is not from Saudi Arabia, where police arrest women for “driving while female”.

No, this story is not from Poland, where fanatical Rightist Roman Catholic politicians tried to ban miniskirts. It is also not from Italy, where the Rightist party of Silvio Berlusconi (of all people) bans miniskirts.

It is not some measure by some Rightist governor in Chile.

It is not from Canada, where a police officer told women they should not dress like “sluts” if they did not want to be raped; which originated the worldwide “SlutWalk” movement against sexual violence and against using women‘s clothes, whether they are burqa or bikini, as excuses for sexual violence.

It is from the USA.

Not from the religious Right’s Deep South heartland. Not from a US Protestant Christian fundamentalist politician opponent of miniskirts.

The story is from New York City. The city of Mayor Bloomberg. Not a fundamentalist Christian. However, he used to be a Republican millionaire. Now, he is officially an independent millionaire, inflicting savage financial cuts on non-millionaire New Yorkers.

This is a video featuring Ms Jasmijn Rijcken from the Netherlands, here videoed in the USA.

From Change.org in the USA:

NYPD Won’t Apologize to Woman Pulled Over for Wearing Short Skirt

by Alex DiBranco · June 15, 2011

Dutch tourist Jasmijn Rijcken reported that she was biking down a Manhattan street, minding her own business, when a cop pulled her over — for wearing too short a skirt. Apparently, Rijcken’s bare legs were “distracting the cars” and “dangerous.” It seemed so absurd to be pulled over for “cycling while sexy,” Rijcken thought the officer was joking, but he became angry and demanded her ID. She went straight back to her hotel and changed into pants, covering up her “killer” legs.

As Margaret Hartmann points out at Jezebel, you’d think the NYPD would be quick to assure women that they don’t have to worry about the fashion police monitoring the length of their skirts — the last thing you want to deal with when dressing for the summer heat. After all, they’re already being scrutinized after a controversial “not-guilty” verdict that many people believe let an NYC cop get away with rape. Over 5000 Change.org members have already signed a petition started by the feminist group Permanent Wave telling the NYPD to implement comprehensive sexual assault and harassment training and a zero-tolerance policy.

See also here.

Michael Winship, Truthout: “One out of six American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime. But only forty percent of these crimes will be reported. Only six percent of rapists spend a day in jail. These devastating numbers are at the very soul of a new documentary that offers an inside look at a real-life SVU — the sex crimes prosecution unit of the New York District Attorney’s office, the first of its kind in the country. Produced by Lisa F. Jackson, Sex Crimes Unit premieres on HBO, Monday, June 20, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, and will be repeated throughout the rest of the month and into July. Look for it”: here.

“Why Is It So Hard to Bring Rapists to Justice?” Here.

BUSHRA ROZZA learnt early about sexual harassment in her country. The prominent Egyptian actor and singer, who stars in a provocative movie about the widespread problem, first experienced it on a crowded bus when she was 15: here.

This American life of ours has long been pro-violence and anti-sex, unless the two can be merged so that violence is the dominant theme. The U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that historical record on Monday in declaring California’s ban on the sale of violent video games to minors unconstitutional while continuing to deny constitutional protection to purely prurient sexual material for either minors or adults: here.