Before I moved to Washington, DC, I was there visiting family. I got on the Metro at the Shady Grove Station. The car was empty except for me and then another man got on the car with me. I did not think anything of it, but he decided to sit right next to me and I thought that was odd considering it was a completely empty car.
He began to talking to me and I made polite conversation. Then he began stroking my bare leg (it was summer and I had on a skirt) and becoming more assertive in his intentions, asking where I was staying and if I was dating anyone. I remember thinking in that moment, that I should hit him, but I became scared, thinking that if I do not disable this person then he is going to harm me and we are trapped on this subway car together and there is nowhere or no one else to run to.
Thankfully, after passing through several stops on the red line going back toward DC more people got on and eventually he got off at a stop. I was left sitting there thankful for the additional people and thankful he did not ride all the way to my stop. To this day I question any person that is too chatty on Metro unless I know that they are a tourist.
– anonymous
Location: Washington, DC
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Not Guilty says
I don’t know about the DC subway system, but in Toronto, there are alert buttons in all the subway cars and I am pretty sure this is a situation that it is meant to be used in. It is unfortunate that women do not think that harassment is a good enough reason to press and call for help. Women need to stop being so worried about being “bothersome” and call for help from somebody when we are being harassed.
Golden Silence says
I agree, but it’s not that easy. A lot of us women are conditioned to think that “it’s no big deal,” “no one will listen to me,” “I’m being hysterical,” etc. We are conditioned to be second-class citizens with invalid opinions and breaking that mindset doesn’t happen overnight.