With the scumbag or scumbags behind a string of sexual assaults in South Brooklyn still roaming the streets, more women are getting ready to defend themselves. Cops have made a couple of arrests, but investigators believe several suspects are responsible, and over the weekend the official tally of assaults that fit the pattern was raised to 20. On Sunday, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn joined dozens of other women for a free self-defense class organized by the Center for Anti-Violence Education. Check out this photo of Quinn: our possible future mayor is ready to kick some butt.
"These are our streets, this is our borough, this is our city and we are not going to let these perpetrators cause us to live in fear," Quinn told NY1. The free self-defense classes (there are several more scheduled this month) are taught in English, Spanish and Chinese. Participants learn how to break free from choke holds, kick, and punch, along with other tips, like "scream first," and when hitting back, aim for the eyes, nose or throat.
The Post's Andrea Peyser, meanwhile, spoke to a Park Slope woman who says her life has "devolved lately into a daymare" because she can't stop thinking about creepy men leering at her. "I thought I was paranoid," the unidentified woman tells Peyser. "Then my neighbor told me she won’t go out without a can of Mace or a large dog. The worst thing is the neck strain I’m getting from whipping my head around every time a man passes. I can’t stand it."
And Bonnie Eaker Weil, a psychotherapist who is treating terrified patients in Brooklyn, says, “The more scared women get, the more they’re interviewed on television, the more enticing it is to the bad guys. It’s causing a contagion of all the weirdos to come out. As we get closer to Halloween, we’re going to see a lot more."
