In Solidarity with Pub-Going, Loose and Forward Women

A sect of Hindu fundamentalists believes that India is

falling prey to "Western deviations' such as allowing women into watering holes clearly meant for men.
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[Several members of the sect] barged into a pub in the south Indian city of Mangalore last month and roughed up young women clients who were enjoying a quiet drink.

'Moral Police' In India To Get Valentine's Underwear
by Philip Reeves
NPR.org
13 February 2009

In response, Indian journalist Nisha Susan formed a Facebook site called the Consortium of Pub-Going, Loose and Forward Women.

For Valentines Day —apparently a day, for this religious sect called Sri Ram Sena, resplendent of Western depravity— the women's group had asked women around India, and around the world, to send their pink panties —or as they're called in India, chaddis— to the sect's leader.

The Sri Ram Sena's leader — who is on bail after his arrest for the pub attack — has a plan to answer the onslaught of pink underwear. He says his organization will reply with gifts of pink saris, the traditional garb of Indian women.

Valentines' Day, I was at Maxs in Baltimore for its Belgian Beer Fest. I didn't have a spare pair of pink chaddis handy, so I toasted the Consortium with a glass of Hannsens Young Lambic, drawn from a cask (the US premiere for this beer).

As of Tuesday, nearly 50,000 Facebook members have joined the group, expressing solidarity. Its campaign for women's human rights continues at: The Pink Chaddis Campaign.

I was alerted to this story by a post at Jeff Alworth's Beervana.