I’d like to hear from some of the female posters here and know how they cope with males here who step over the line.
Some posters on the “women-only cars” thread got me thinking. Anyway, some people posted this:
Someone wrote:
Quote:
Exactly. Or simply saying in a loud and direct voice, “Hey, you, stop rubbing up against me.”
I don’t think this would work, not here. Firstly they would probably not dare to speak out and nobody would give a damn anyhow, so it would just become an embarassement and attract “what’s wrong with her?” stares.
Someone else wrote:
I agree that it might not work, especially right away. Nothing new works well in current culture until the culture changes to accept and even expect the new behavior. And that’s what we’re really talking about here is a need for cultural change. And that change is not only needed on the part of the abusive men. The women need to stop being easy, passive targets. (And before anyone asks, no, I don’t think they are “asking for it”).
Anyway, I’ve had talks with my female foreign friends about this. Nobody has been raped, but they have been subject to inappropriate touching, or men who do things that are just plain harrassing while not being downright illegal. I.E.; a guy sitting too close to her and leering at her breasts on the bus while breathing heavy, etc.
One girl I met told me that she (she speaks excellent Chinese) will get up and go talk to a group of people and ask them to protect her from “that strange man”. She said it worked well for her, but of course, your Chinese has to be pretty good to be able to pull this off.
I have heard that yelling at the guy doesn’t do much good, as people look at the big, loud waigoren like she is the one with the problem. I know several girls who do this anyway. It’s better than nothing.
I talked to another girl who told me that she lets out a scream and then backs away from the guy like she is terrified of him. She said it had the effect of making bystanders give him the angry looks instead of her. (She could have passed for a high school girl, which probably worked in her favor) Not sure what kinds of situations this would be appropriate for.
I’m curious to know what other women have done. I think if I were a female I would carry mace all of the time and probably use it in situations where it wasn’t necessary. (still struggling with my anger issues over here 
)
These kinds of incidents and thinking about how to cope with them is a side of Taiwan males do not get to see. It is probably very different than the way I believe it is. I’m quite shocked that the men here don’t do anything when they see a women having trouble. But the girl who acts helpless and frightened gets results (they don’t go kick the guys butt unfortunately, but I think she does draw some shame to the guy.)
What’s it like to be female here? I’m sure there are threads in the women’s forum about this, but I would like to know more about it.
Do the women here do less about inappropriate behavior because the overall crime rate is lower and thus they don’t have to fear, say, abduction and murder as much as the women back home?
How often do females here have trouble with inappropriate behavior from strange men, how does the strange behavior differ from back home, and how are the techniques for dealing with it successfully different from back home?
What do the (inappropriately behaved) men here actually do? How is it different from back home, and what does it say about this culture?
How do inappropriately behaved men respond to different methods of responding to them, and why do you think this is?
What kind of country is this? I want to hear about the Taiwan I never see.
hell generally I find it amusing.
