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Can sex strikes incite change?

Photo Courtesy of Dr. Glen T. Martin

The women of Togo in Africa are being asked to withhold sex for a week from their partners. The hope is that the pressure on the men will be too much to bear and they will take action to encourage (force) President Faure Gnassingbe to resign.

A week, though? Not only is that too short of a time to really make change, but everyone would be missing out on a little something-something. Lose-Lose.

There has got to be a better way.

Can you imagine if American women went on a sex strike?

1. All of the politicians would have a weeklong honeymoon with their secret male lovers while making statements about supporting their wives’ cause.

2. The sex industry would be the highest paid industry. Still. And even more so.

3. Todd Akin would spend the whole week trying to come up with a new term to define rape.

4. The GOP would introduce perspective policies that regulate how often women should be expected to have intercourse with their partners. Ironically, they will have women supporters.

5. Abstinence advocates will find all types of random statistics to support abstinence. (ie; During the week where women practiced abstinence, there was an 80% increase in natural rainbows and 20% decrease in reported STDs.)

6. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt would break up.

7. Charlie Sheen would go through withdrawal.

8. The FCC would allow bare female breasts to be shown on standard television.

9. Make-up sex, the day after the strike ends, would contribute to global warming and world peace.

10. Sex would be the number one topic for all media outlets for the whole week, so that you won’t dare forget how much you are missing it.

Basically, nothing would change. All that a weeklong strike would inspire me to do is keep a countdown to the day the strike ends.

Good luck to the women of Togo, though. I hope that it works out for them, or at least shows the country’s decision makers that they are trying to be involved and proactive about country politics. Maybe next time, they will be confident enough in their power and voices to use methods that do not involve what is in their panties, but rather, what is in their minds, hearts, and souls.

Related articles

• Togo Women To Go On Week-Long Sex Strike (jstsaying.com)
• Togolese women call for sex strike to put pressure on the president | World news | guardian.co.uk (2012indyinfo.com)
• Opposition Leader In Togo Calls On Women To Go On ‘Sex Strike’ To Protest Government (outsidethebeltway.com)
• Teach our kids about condoms! (salon.com)
• California school district sued over abstinence-only sex ed (usnews.nbcnews.com)
• Women of Togo call for nationwide sex strike (rawstory.com)