Young men trapped in a world with no jobs and no future, and violently confused about sex, tend to make women the symbols and the victims of the frustrations around them. Ten years ago, the boys in these hoods burned cars in the streets. Today, they increasingly turn their anger against �their� women in the basements of their apartment blocks.
Recently, a few young women of the cites have begun to fight back. One organization in particular, Ni Putes, Ni Soumises, (roughly, Not Whores, Not Servants), has been organizing protests and speaking out so loudly that the French public and the French government have taken notice�and sympathized.
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So it was, earlier this year, that the eight young women of Ni Putes, Ni Soumises came together and began touring France to publicize their plight. They weren�t sure what they were doing or where they were going. But they knew they were fed up. �We were f�-ing scared,� says Lebdi. �We were heading for the unknown.�
Unknown then, perhaps, but no longer. Today, all of France knows of them and their cause.
Christopher Dickey and Marie Valla Newsweek August 18 2003
