Belgium's elections were held 243 days ago and politicians still can't agree on forming a government. This week, Socialist senator Marleen Temmerman proposed an age-old remedy to break the impasse: a sex strike. "I call on the spouses of all negotiators to withhold sex until a deal is reached," she says.

- In Pereira, Colombia, in 2006, the girlfriends of gang members held a widely publicised "strike of crossed legs" vowing to give up sex until their partners gave up violence. Last year, the city's murder rate saw a decline by 26.5%.

- In Naples, Italy, in 2008, women formed a similar strike against notoriously dangerous New Year fireworks displays.

- One sex strike lauded as a straightforward triumph was held in Kenya in 2009, when women's organisations protested against political infighting.

- In Sirt, Turkey, women staged a month-long sex strike and withheld sex from their husbands to protest the lack of accessible running water.