Tuesday, April 03, 2012

One reason why I get groped

At Palolem, my friend Amy and I were chatting with a late 20s Indian guy from Mumbai when I said, “Can I ask you something? I’ve been touched a lot by Indian men. Just light brushes against my leg or butt. Are they doing that to everybody, or is it because I’m by myself? Except some of this has happened when I was with friends or other travelers.”

He looked a bit uncomfortable and said, “Please don’t take this rudely, but many prostitutes here are from Nepal. They may think you’re Nepali.”

I nodded. This was actually something my Indian-American friend had warned me about earlier in Delhi, that most sex workers are Asian and people might look at me differently.

Amy asked, “So how should she respond when people touch her?”

The man said matter-of-factly, “Just tell them you’re not a prostitute.”

1 comment:

Andrea said...

You make us all so proud. ;)

My wonderful father has died

Hao Van Vu, who left Vietnam after the war and built a new life in southern California, died on Feb. 20 after a lengthy battle with lun...