Good roads can be a matter of life and death. This is definitely true in Barbacaos, a little town in southwest Colombia. You can only access the town by one dirt road, and it’s in horrible shape: A trip to the closest hospital can take up to 14 hours. As you can imagine, it’s not unusual for people die on the way — including women in labor.
Now the ladies have taken things into their own hands. They’re staging a real-life Lysistrata and refusing to put out until the road is fixed. The sex strike is being called the “crossed legs movement.” And it’s actually the second time they’re denying their partners nookie. Two years ago, they tried this very tactic for 38 days, relenting when politicians promised a better road. BUT NOTHING HAPPENED. You know what they say: Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice, prepare to masturbate.
And it seems to have actually worked this time! As reporter John Otis told PRI:
Just this month, the Army Corps of Engineers has announced, “Yes, we are rebuilding that road,” and the bulldozers are in there and they’re getting going on it. So there appears to be a happy ending this time.
(Haha, “happy ending.” I am 12.)
Otis adds that guerrilla warfare and rough terrain could keep the road from being repaired yet again, but it sounds like a tentative victory. YOU GO, LADIES.
