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Brazilian Women Wear Men's Clothes For Safety
By Kyodo News Service
Contributed by Elizabeth Parker
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil
Dec. 16, 1997
Wearing men's clothes has
become the latest fashion among women in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo in
an attempt to avoid gangs which attack women driving alone in the city's
busy traffic, a local daily reported Tuesday.
Before leaving work and heading for home by car, many women are wearing
men's garments like caps and coats and some said they will wear a phony
mustache to confuse robbers, the daily O Estado de Sao Paulo reported.
"We have been doing this because women have become the main target of
robbers who very seldom dare to attack male drivers," a 26-year-old
secretary told the paper.
The strategy also includes avoiding earrings, bracelets and makeup and
never wearing women's watches to reinforce the "masculine look" to be
safe from the robbers.
The robbers who often use their own vehicles to crash into the victim's
car to make them stop are being called by the local media as the "crash and
rob gangs."
Many women are modifying their daily schedules to match the schedule of
their colleagues in order to drive together in convoys through the city.
"We are safer together," a woman said.
Increasing urban violence is a major source of concern for the
authorities in Brazil's industrial heartland which has a 10 million
population and lies in the southeastern part of the country.
Some women claim they have been attacked several times mainly at night
when they stopped at traffic lights. They say gangs of street children also
prefer to rob women because they seldom react.
Local police reported several women have been mugged and raped while
driving alone in the city streets and have organized a special operation to
arrest the robbers.
The fear of violence has boosted the popularity of self-defense
courses, which have become the latest fad among women drivers.
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