Apparently in Mexico it’s thought outrageously naive to expect men to not molest women on crowded public buses. The situation has become so bad that officials have adopted a measure put forward by women’s rights groups who clearly set the bar for women’s lib very low:

MEXICO CITY – Groping and verbal harassment is an exasperating reality for women using public transportation in this sprawling capital, where 22 million passengers cram onto subways and buses each day. Some men treat women so badly that the subway system has long had ladies-only cars during rush hour, with police segregating the sexes on the platforms.

But that hasn’t helped women forced to rely on packed buses, by far the city’s most-used form of public transportation — until this week.

Acting on complaints from women’s groups, the city rolled out “ladies only” buses, complete with pink signs in the windshields to wave off the men.

As word spreads about the buses, the women seem delighted, while some men forced to wait a few minutes longer have shown their anger. Still others have stumbled on board despite the signs, much to their embarrassment.

On Thursday, passengers on one of the female-only buses spent most of their trip down the capital’s tree-lined Reforma Avenue chatting or putting on makeup, instead of fighting off unwanted male attention.

[…]

Mexico City’s female-only buses run along three busy routes throughout the day for now, but the city plans to add them to 15 other routes by April, said Ariadna Montiel, who directs the public bus system.

“Women were asking for this service because of the sexual harassment, especially groping and leering,” Montiel said.

And while some men have complained that they have to wait longer for a bus, she said the women are thrilled: “The women are really happy and we have been getting a lot of e-mail and letters from them.”

Juliana Romero, a 49-year-old secretary, said not riding with men is “fantastic.”

“When the bus is packed, there will inevitably be a lecherous man who will bother you,” she said.

Women-only buses or subways have been rolling for years in India, Brazil, Japan and other countries. Mexico City finally took the action as part of a growing responsiveness to complaints about discrimination against women, Montiel said.

So women’s groups in Mexico aren’t demanding that men act civilized, but that women are separated from them. Like in India, Brazil and Japan there seems to be a culture of misogyny that puts the blame of sexual exploitation not on men or the society’s permissiveness with regard to male sexual battery, but instead blames access to women for men molesting them.

Multiculturalists should take note and decide if there really is an inherent parity between cultures. I’d rather my wife or daughter ride a bus in America, surrounded by people who agree at least to the basic standards of American behavior (you know, like not molesting women in public) than in Mexico City, frilly pink ride or not.

But I guess that makes me a racist.