Several hours after five teenagers were caught stealing from a luxury apartment in the Mexican city of Tepic two weeks ago, they were found half naked and severely beaten on one of the city's main thoroughfares. A week later, mobile phone footage documenting the psychological abuse they were subjected to surfaced on YouTube. Read more and see the video...

Asser Yasser, a young Egyptian woman, was insulted and brutalized by a group of young men in Cairo on her way home from work. Although incidents of sexual harassment happen daily in Egypt, the prominent blogger decided to press charges to draw attention to the widespread problem. Her case was filed by the police, but ruled out in court. However, she and various women's groups are determined to pursue their anti-harassment campaign. Read more...

A man arrested on Tuesday has hit the Indian headlines as "the Joseph Fritzl of Mumbai". Under the watch of his wife, the businessman raped his teenage daughter for nine years, apparently following orders from a tantric. Read more...

A dispute has broken out in Italy after Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the women there are "so beautiful" that the country doesn't have enough soldiers to prevent them from being raped. Offensive or funny? Our Observers in Italy comment on the most recent blunder from the king of gaffes. Read more and see the video...

The Chinese authorities momentarily lost control over public information this weekend when their desperate endeavours to cover up the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl lead to violent riots in the south-western Guinzhou province. Web users destroyed officials' attempts to downplay the enormity of events by continuously posting images and accounts of the protests. Read more...

Tired of seeing people turn a blind eye on sexual assault and intimidation in India, one woman has decided to tackle the taboo subject head on. Her answer to a flasher is to snap a photo of him and post it online. And somebody has. Read her account...

Photo: AFP (we didn't manage to find an amateur image of the trouser padlock)

Image taken from Mormon Polygamy: A History

Following a call from a 16-year-old girl claiming she was sexually abused and assaulted by her 50-year-old husband, a fundamentalist Mormon compound where men have several wives has been raided and 419 children taken into temporary custody by Texan authorities. Carlene Cannon, who lives in the same type of community, explains why the incident "totally disregarded civil rights" and defends polygamy. Read more...