Ancient strategy, new sign

I am delighted to report that my proposal for sex withholding to force Ann Arbor to repair its roads (as is being done in Barbacoas, Colombia) was linked by P.D. Lesko’s A2Politico, Ann Arbor’s leading political blog. Better yet, an important classical reference was added. Withholding sex to induce behavioral compliance is a very old strategy indeed:

…it originated in ancient Greece. Aristophanes’s comic play “Lysistrata” debuted in 411 BCE, and it is the story of one woman’s devoted efforts to end the Pelopennesian War. Lysistrata persuades the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands and lovers as a means of forcing the men to negotiate peace.

When I pointed this out to a friend, he exclaimed that the Spartan women would never have done such a thing. Actually, Lysistrata was working in cahoots with the Spartans — against the Athenians of course. But, I do think it’s fair to speculate that Spartan women would most likely have not have threatened to withhold sex from Spartan to force them to make peace. (However, they might very well have done so to force them to go to war.)

The larger point, though, is that sex withholding is a very old behavioral tactic. It worked in ancient Greece it may work in Barbacoas. Could the same strategy work in Ann Arbor?

Thinking about this made me return to the drawing board. As a first step, angry Ann Arbor residents might start by demanding that Barbacoas, Colombia be made a “sister city.”

And why not? As things stand right now, Ann Arbor is supposed to have seven sister cities, but you would never know it, as only six of them are listed on its official signs.

Why no seventh?

If we again take a classical view of things, seven sisters is solidly grounded in Greek Mythology. Moreover, the concept of the Seven Sisters is solidly grounded in academic tradition! Ann Arbor being an academic town, the addition of a seventh sister almost becomes a no-brainer. And what could be a better sister city than a place where women withhold sex in order to improve their road beds?

The problem with adding Barbacoas to the signs that are posted conspicuously at entrances to Ann Arbor is that the people who do that obviously aren’t doing their job.

Why they are not is anyone’s guess, but I thought I would help them out a bit, by adding Barbacoas as Ann Arbor’s New and Improved Seventh Sister City:

Interestingly, Remedios, Cuba was supposed to have been added in 2003, but because Remedios does not appear on any of the signs, I think it is perfectly appropriate to consider it to have been superseded by Barbacoas — a city far more appropriate as an aid in helping to solve Ann Arbor’s pressing problems.

It wasn’t easy, but change never is.

Besides, it beats going out myself and filling potholes in the hot sun.