Holy Aristophanes, Batman!

In a new move to curb gang warfare, the wives and mistresses of gang member in Pereira, Colombia have turned to a very old idea. Stealing a page from the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, the women are refusing to have sex with their partners until they give up the violence that has plagued the city.

Fretting over crime and violence, girlfriends and wives of gang members in the Colombian city of Pereira have called a ban on sex to persuade their menfolk to give up the gun.

After meeting with the mayor's office to discuss a disarmament program, a group of women decided to deny their partners their conjugal rights and recorded a song for local radio to urge others to follow their example.

"We met with the wives and girlfriends of gang members and they were worried some were not handing over their guns and that is where they came up with the idea of a vigil or a sex strike," mayor's office representative Julio Cesar Gomez said.

"The message they are giving them is disarm or if not then they will decide how, when, where and at what time," he told Reuters by telephone.

The women call it the "crossed legs" strike. There were 480 murders in Pereira last year attributed to gang warfare.