Sex Strike Sees Colombian Women Demand Repaved Road Via 'Crossed Legs Movement'

The Crossed Legs Movement: Colombian Women Get What They Want By Withholding What Men Want
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The 'crossed leg movement' of a small Colombian town finally seems to be paying off (file picture)
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A group of women in a small Colombian town have used sex to get what they want.

No big news there per se, but specifically, they’ve withheld all conjugal rights from their significant others as protest at the shoddy state of the 35 mile road which connects the isolated town of Barbacoas to the rest of the Nariño province.

The road is in such a state of disrepair, Colombia-based reporter John Otis reveals, it can take 12 to 14 hours to get to the nearest hospital, and some women have even died trying to get there in time to deliver their babies.

Yet it’s not the first time the ladies of Barbacoas have gone on “sex strike”.

It was instigated the first time back in June 2011, in protest at the government’s refusal to pave the very same road.

Ruby Quinonez, one of the leaders of the original "crossed legs movement", told El Tiempo: "We are being deprived of our most human rights and as women we can't allow that to happen … Why bring children into this world when they can just die without medical attention and we can't even offer them the most basic rights?

“We decided to stop having sex and stop having children until the state fulfils its previous promises."

Following three months and 19 days of abstinence, Barbacoas town politicians promised the road would be repaired and central government pledged $21m to pave at least half of it.

But fast forward two years and none of that has materialised.

So once again, the town’s womenfolk have primly crossed their legs… and this time it looks like the move could be paying off, with Otis reporting he has seen evidence of repairs underway as the Army Corps of Engineers assembles bulldozers and heavy machinery.

Fingers crossed and keep up the good work, ladies.

Sex strikes as forms of non-violent protest are becoming a popular form of opposition - particularly because they attract so much media attention. Check out Buzzfeed's round up of six strikes from around the world, including those staged in Togo, Liberia and Kenya.