German town bans male refugees from swimming pool

A western German town has barred adult male asylum seekers from its public indoor swimming pool after receiving complaints that some women were sexually harassed.

The measures in Bornheim, a town of 48,000 some 18 miles (30km) south of Cologne, are the latest sign of social tensions related to the arrival last year of 1.1 million migrants in Germany, followed by sexual assaults on women by young male migrants and asylum seekers during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Cologne.

Bornheim’s deputy mayor said on Friday that a difficult decision was taken to send a clear message that breaching German cultural norms was a red line.

“There have been complaints of sexual harassment and chatting-up going on in this swimming pool … by groups of young men, and this has prompted some women to leave [the premises],” Markus Schnapka said.

Source.

Necessary action or bigotry, GS decides!

You can take a hardline 100% unacceptability stance on these issues until your new population conforms to your social standards or you can have 1000 guys molesting the women in the public square of cologne on new years eve and deal with that with a media blackout that covered it up for 3 days until the outcry forced the issue into the light of day.

Germany has a choice to make and it looks like they are going to show some backbone and protect their vulnerable population.

The sheer outrageousness of the media coverup and victim blaming on new years eve is plenty of reason for them to do whatever they feel is necessary.

I feel bad for Germany because it's one of the few NATO countries that declined to participate in NATO's war crimes against Libya and Syria---the root cause of the refugee crisis. Most NATO countries (including the US) actually deserve to be ruined by an inundation of refugees, but Germany isn't one of those countries.

@Stesilaus: the entire point is to ruin germany. Otherwise the fugees would not be passing by a half dozen closer countries that have their borders wide open to them and have made it clear they are welcome to settle there.

What? Not a single country in europe want's the immigrants and refugees. Especially the countries they have to cross to getto germany made it clear they don't want any of them to stay in their country. After sweden gave up only Austria and Germany are left, who don't refuse to take them in, even if it will ruin them. (and it will, over 51.000 new immigrants and refugees came since the beginning of the year to germany)

@endlessocean: there is hardly a country in europe that has not accepted refugees and is not still accepting them. It's pretty easy to lookup. The list goes on and on. If you guys want to see what the real score here is lookup the list of countries that have refused refugees and tell me what the obvious pattern you see is.

I have no idea what you are talking about. The only countries that have accepted a significant number of refugees and immigrants are germany, sweden and austria. You could count Greece in, but they didn't really have a choice.

All other european countries have taken in such a little amount that it's not worth to talk about it.

@endlessocean: once again this is easy to lookup all you have to do is google it. The list of countries accepting refugees is huge.

@Riverwolf007

Then show me your list. I won't gogle something I know that isn't true.

You made a claim and you have to proof it. :

@endlessocean: because of course you would not put in 15 seconds worth of effort to learn the truth for youself and would instead put the burden on someone else. If you looked it up yourself there would be no way to ignore it.

I will never understand stuff like this. Why would you not want to see it for yourself and you be the one to get the information then cross reference it to confirm so you can be sure it is not from some shady site?

That's odd to me.

Well? Didja look it up? Huh? Didja? Sorry to hurry you but I'm curious to see your reaction when you found out turkey has taken in almost 2 million refugees and asylum seekers and lebanon another 1.2 million.

The news didn't cover that did they? Know why?

Because the news is in the bullshit business and you need to look up things yourself in order to get any truth.

Perhaps you should look up the nonsense you post.

Nonsense

And victim blaming? Lulz. One mayor said something silly and you try to make it seem like a big conspiracy. I live 60 minutes away from Cologne and you, sir, are full of shenanigans.

@nethernova: well of course I am as vunerable to misleading press as anyone and I saw it covered as a media coverup in a bbc article. I will look into it some more because the irish times article looked pretty believeable and I have no problem revising my opinions in the face of credible evidence.

As far as victim blaming goes what would you call printing a guide to behavior in the news? If it was not their fault why would they have to change their behavior? The mayor is an elected official that represents the voters so obviously this is not something you can just say hey its just the mayor. Does the mayor not represent the attitude of the people that put them in the position? Obviously not 100% or anything but there has to be some sort of connection or that person would not be the mayor.

Anyway I'm glad you put the irish times article in there because this coverup thing was pretty widely reported by even the liberal news sites.

Well, I personally didn't check the news at midnight because I had better things to do but I can say that on January 1st the online news were already reporting what happened and the printed newspapers followed the next day.

Meh, I don't know. I'm not assuming that people who vote for somebody know the opinion of that person about everything. But like I said, what she said was completely silly and she got a huge shitstorm for it. There were hundreds of memes about women who should try to keep "an arm's length distance". I don't remember anybody else trying to blame the victims in the slightest way. And I seriously doubt that she will be elected ever again for anything.

While I do agree that thinking it's a cover-up is nonsense, I'd say the mayor's reaction went way over "something silly". If the mayor was a man the feminist mob would've lynched him for blatant show of sexism and victim blaming.

Let me guess... they "couldn't help themselves around all those immodest women".

speaking of unusual religious practices,

Dortmund, Germany: Last Sunday three North African Migrants attempted an execution by stoning after finding out that the two women they sexually harassed were actually men. Their honor was hurt, they grabbed nearby stones and attempted to execute them. They testified that "people like them" need to be stoned to death in accordance to Islamic law.

Tougher sexual harassment laws. Adding a component of sexual harassment education to all services sought by refugees. Media attention and shaming of people who violate dignity.

Those are the reasonable, not stupid ways of handling it.

We don't live in a reasonable world, so instead we punish classes, types and tribes of people for the actions of others.

These men come from a place where the only women from whom they are likely to see that much skin are their wives and prostitutes, so female skin is overly-sexualized. I say that not by way of excusing their actions, but to explain and give context to them. It is a culture clash, disgusting but hardly mysterious to diagnose, and shouldn't be too difficult to overcome if values like trust and respect are held in their proper regard. Those men likely don't want to be thought of as disrespectful and disgusting anymore than anyone else.

You don't give them allies among other refugees who would normally not accept their actions, by punishing those refugees. You divide and conquer, not segregate and marginalize.

Maybe they think if they're no in burkas then they must all be sexually deviant whores that want it. Someone needs to teach these people some crash course secularism ASAP, teach it not as a belief system to deny God but rather a system to respect the rights and beliefs of all individuals.

You can't teach the willfully ignorant. People cling to their religious beliefs in spite of evidence to the contrary because their belief trumps evidence.

I'm not so sure anymore if it's because they fear hell or simply because it's something they and their family has asserted their whole lives and simply cannot let it go. The reasons don't really matter, the results still suck.

Religion constantly changes. Societies constantly change. Millions of muslims live by western cultural norms in America every day. Hundreds of millions of Christians live in harmony with current secular principles every day.

Sadly you're right however that some people are particularly determined to ignore evidence and facts to the contrary of their ideology, be it conservative Islam or militant atheism. They believe things are unchangeable.

Yup, thus the use of the term 'willfully ignorant'. The ignorant can be taught, the willfully ignorant won't allow it.

Because only Muslim men sexually harass women? Sexual harassment is a serious issue but it encompasses all of humanity regardless of race, color, religion, and orientation.

Perhaps the reports are accurate (The closings are based on those who were sexually harassed and the article doesn't provide clear evidence) and, in which case, complicates the refugee crisis even further. Reports like this will continue to fuel xenophobic nationalists but also doubters and give the false impression of refugees.

People should avoid blanket statements. Several refugees committing crimes doesn't reflect all refugees, just like how several black men committing a crime doesn't reflect all black men, and just how the KKK do not reflect the entire white community.

Pretty much nailed it. Libya and Kosovo are now such grand success. Which they arent...

@drunk_pi: islam has a culture of rape no matter how you wanna spin it cuck

@drunk_pi: I believe there is a specific problem in Germany right now.....so PC isn't going to address said problem. I mean we can all hide behind PC and let nothing get done or we can address actual problems and solve them.

Now people are beginning to notice a problem?

Who said anything about political correctness? I'm simply stating that we should avoid blanket statements on any race, color, or creed. Perhaps there is a problem in Germany but it doesn't reflect the entire refugee community, nor does it reflect the processes of how countries accept refugees. It's a problem that needs to be addressed but blaming the entire refugee population isn't going to help.

LINK Statistically speaking, rape happens in western countries as well as countries such as India, Russia, Sri Lanka, and South Africa. While there are no clear statistics of rape in the Middle East (and that they have their own definitions which is alarming and detrimental to women living there), to say that Islam is a culture of rape is a meaningless statement that has no validity. In all countries, rape is committed by men and women who are sick in the head, regardless of race, color, or creed. Also insulting those you're arguing with doesn't help but then again your insult probably tells me that you were probably cucked by the people you hate.

@drunk_pi: No one's blaming the entire population but if an influx of people brings increased problems they need addressed. You're hiding behind PC and being an apologist.

Why is it that Sweden is on that list? Do you really think its the Swedes commiting the rape? No.. its the million muslim immigrants Sweden has imported and thats why Sweden in on the path to become a 3rd world country by 2030. Yes rape happens everywhere but the difference is that western countries throw people that commit rape in prison

So many problems in this world are not addressed properly out fear of offending. Germany brings in people to their fatherland and using the tax dollars of its citizens it helps these refugees. Some refugees give the bird as thanks. I'd be extremely cautious with all of them regardless who gets their feelings hurt. The people of that country are more important than making visitors feel good.

"We should avoid blanket statements" doesn't equal political correctness, it means we shouldn't label the entire group of people because of several who committed a heinous crime. Again, where am I being "politically correct?" Sexual abuse is serious but the news itself (true or untrue) can damage the refugee issue even further fueling nationalist scaremongers. No where in my post did I say we should tolerate it if those refugees are committing a crime. I don't think any of you know what political correctness is.

Also, many problems aren't addressed because of constant fearmongering and misinformation.

South Africa is on that list. Several Latin American countries are on that list. So what's your point? There are half a million Muslims living in Sweden and Sweden is no where near a 3rd world country. Muslim men still go to jail if they commit rape and no one is tolerating that. Seriously, where are you getting your information?

... So your seriously suggesting the massive influx in sexual harassment and rape since they took in a large refugee population are absolutely not related what so ever? This isn't about Muslims as so much that these refugees have come from a culture and society where women are second class citizens.. Large amounts of these refugees are not even from Syria, but all over the Middle East....

The average europeans are.

Your politically correctness is derived from the naivety I've noticed from some of your contributions in this discussion. The abuse problem seemed to find a head with the influx of refugees and that can not be denied nor should it be denied. Until the problem can be rectified, the influx should be looked upon with much more scrutiny and appropriate (albeit perhaps politically incorrect) measures should be instituted. If you want scaremongering to stop, perhaps the refugees (being paid for by German tax payers) should get with the program and understand their new country isn't a a third world dump. There are rules and practices to follow. Quit blaming the people who are sick of visitors acting like cavemen.

That's too bad, if they were hot guys I totally could harass them sexually in the swimming pool.

A necessary evil, sadly enough. If you cannot respect secular laws, and secular values. You, yourself deserve no respect.

While I am for immigration to a reasonable extent, people like this quite honestly deserve to be deported.

FYI, the reason for the high rate of rape in Sweden, is due to what sweden classifies as rape. Immigration is also a part of it, but the biggest rise was caused by a rather draconian definition change.

Alos, source on sweden becoming a third world country by 2030. If you are referring to that report, whose predictions failed if I might add (the report predicted that in 2015 sweden would be 25th place, sweden is currently 14th, by the time the thing was made, sweden was 15th). Also, the HDI remained mostly the same from last 2014-15 and if anything, increased, ever so slightly.

When you have uneducated savages whose only knowledge of the world is an archaic religious belief entering into modern society you're going to get situations like this.

The solution.

Educate first & foremost. Make them watch videos and deal with situations that are acceptable and customs they must INTEGRATE not ACCOMODATE. If they're incapable they get deported.

They have been allowed back in now I believe. Maybe its an idea for the pool to have a women only evening/ day session...

Hence my saying it is not an excuse. Glad we agree.

There's always something to understand, because people are people, regardless of how uncivilized or disgusting you find them. Sourcing their behavior correctly is essential to creating the proper solutions to fight that behavior. Attempting to blindly fight against it leads to stupid, counter-productive reactions that do far more harm than good, for instance marginalizing a million people from Syria in order punish the actions of 20 Tunisians and Algerians who aren't part of the refugees anyways, but came in a previous wave of immigrants. That's moronic, and will cause distrust and hatred from the new arrivals and will make assimilating them much harder. Instead, when they show up for housing have a mandatory class on cultural norms be part of that assignment, which is still targeting all refugees, but at least it isn't a punishment and it's to their benefit and will cause far less mistrust. Make sexual harassment laws much tougher and recruit from the refugees for those who will enforce those laws. Shame them among their own.

I don't have a problem with immigration, but that's only on the condition they assimilate. Not asking they completely abandon their culture, but you're a new resident in a new home, you play by their rules.

I don't know...you take a bunch of oppressed, highly religious, conservative people that haven't seen a girl in a bikini before and they're gonna go as crazy as a bunch of horny 13 year olds. Only they're grown-ass men from a society where men dominate.

I don't agree with the pool prohibiting all immigrants, but definitely on a per-person basis, and the government/police should step in.

That's understandable, no one wants muslim cooties. [/sarcasm]

Interesting, now muslims refugees are offended because the "women" they sexually harassed were actually not women but guys and now they are trying to stone them to death.

Maybe they should return to whatever shithole they crawled out of if they can't respect western culture and especially women. This is not a matter of cultural ignorance.

I wonder how much longer the EU will survive and just when the mass killings that happen in the middle east start happening in the countries that brought these people in.

Why should the citizens of this nation (women in this case) be inconvenienced?