Staying safe: advice for female travelers

As another Indian politician lands himself in hot water over shortsighted remarks about bikinis and sexual molestation, Dr Brooke Magnanti shares some of her top tips for women staying safe while traveling.

With news that Goa's Public Works Minister, Sudhin Dhavalikar, has suggested the bikini be banned from public beaches in the state, an idyllic tourist destination that attracted half a million foreign visitors last year, what's a woman on vacation to do? "Wearing bikinis can attract problems like molestations," he said. "I feel that wearing bikinis should be banned on the beaches. We should not allow such types of people (in bikinis) to enter public places."

Dhavalikar's not the only one to stick his foot in it. Goa's Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar of the BJP political party, was widely criticized for comments that he claimed were "anecdotal and made on a lighter note".