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Man in Disguise Gropes Woman on Mexico Subway

May 13, 2009 By HKearl

In Mexico City there are women-only subway cars (and buses) due to men harassing women — listen to this story twist!

A woman was riding in a women-only subway car when she felt someone touch her “backside,” but she said she did not react when she saw what she thought was a woman standing behind her. But when the person grabbed her and groped her, she pulled the metro car’s alarm.

The attacker was arrested by police and soon after it was discovered that the person was actually a man in his mid-40s who was wearing a wig, dress, and a padded bra so he could gain access on the women-only cars. Which may have been fine (what, after all defines one as a woman?) except for the slight problem of groping.

The author of the Latin American Herald Tribune notes at the end of the article:

“For several years, the capital metro has had cars specifically for women, who frequently complain about attacks of this kind in the cars that can be used by both sexes.”

As I’ve mentioned several times online & certainly will address in my book, women-only forms of public transportation are somewhat problematic because they don’t address the main issue — men need to stop harassing and groping women!! This story illustrates the lack of a real solution women-only cars provide because apparently men are still groping women on the mixed-sex cars and men, like the one arrested, can dress up like women and get on women-only cars and still grope women (though I’d be surprised if this happens very much).

I acknowledge that women-only cars could be a relief in the short-term for women who need a break from the harassment, but what if instead there were anti-groping training programs and harsher penalties for gropers?

Egyptian Street Harassment Activists Video Clip

May 11, 2009 By HKearl

As a follow up to the post “Hear from Egyptian Activists,” which linked to an audio clip on the BBC website about Egyptian women fighting street harassment, the BBC recently posted this video on the same topic. In fact, as far as I can tell the text is identical, but the visuals make it worth hearing again.

[note: I’ve tried unsuccessfully to embed the video clip, so please follow the link to see it]

Street Harassment Round Up – May 10

May 10, 2009 By HKearl

Stories:

In Toronto, a contributor tells how she got two men kicked out of a restaurant for groping another customer.

As mentioned last week, since April 26, HollaBack NYC has been posting one photo a day of street harassers. They will continue to do so for a month. All of the photos are being submitted by one woman, Sally N., a New York City resident. Emily at HollaBack NYC says, “We believe these pictures tell the story of what it’s like to be a woman in the big apple.” Visit HollaBack NYC to see these photos.

For a new international perspective, read some of the new street harassment stories in Mauritius.

At Holla Back DC, a contributor tells how she was walking to meet friends and a man asked her how much for her body… (Ugh!)

Website Launch:

The anti-street harassment website in Mauritius (near South Africa) officially launched this week!

In the News:

A woman was allegedly sexually harassed by a taxi driver in Australia
A street harasser in India was sentenced to sweeping at a hospital.
Women-only subway cars may be introduced in Beijing to help cut down on groping.

Take Action Against Subway Groping/Assault Video Game

May 6, 2009 By HKearl

A few months ago I wrote about the Japanese video game RapeLay, which allows players to grope young women on subways and then allows players to escalate their actions to lots of raping. At that time, activists were successful in getting the game banned from the US Amazon.com and Ebay, but the game is still easily found elsewhere online, including, apparently, Japan’s Amazon.com.

Equality Now has a new call to action around this horrible video game.

“Japan has an obligation under Article 5(a) of CEDAW ‘to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.’ In addition, Article 14 of the Japanese Constitution guarantees equality under the law and states that there shall be no ‘discrimination in political, economic or social relations because of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.’ Computer games such as RapeLay condone gender-based discriminatory attitudes and stereotypes, which perpetuate violence against women. Rather than allowing them to flourish, the Japanese government should be taking effective measures to overcome these attitudes and practices, which hinder women’s equality.”

Visit Equality Now’s website for contact info and sample letters you can use:

“Please write to Illusion Software asking it to withdraw immediately from sale of all games, including RapeLay, which involve rape, stalking or other forms of sexual violence or which otherwise denigrate women. Suggest that corporations have a responsibility to consider, as good business practice, any negative impact their activities may have on society and the public interest. Please write a similar letter to Amazon Japan. Write also to the Japanese government officials below, calling on them to comply with Japan’s obligations under CEDAW and the Japanese Constitution to eliminate discrimination against women and particularly to ban the sale of computer games such as RapeLay, which normalize and promote sexual violence against women and girls.”

I’m going to write! I hate subway groping, I hate rape, I hate violence! And I hate video games that portray these horrible acts as something “fun” for players to do.

Taxi “Terror” in Australia

May 3, 2009 By HKearl

According to Star News in Australia in an article with the classy title “Taxi terror prompts a warning for women,”

“A young woman said she was forced to flee a taxi and hide in the early hours of Sunday morning after the driver became aggressive when she rejected his sleazy advances.”

She filed a report with the police and the taxi company. The police chief said he,

“was unaware of her allegations but urged taxi passengers to remain vigilant. ‘The best thing to do is not to travel alone at night and don’t get in the front seat at any time.'”

How realistic is it for everyone to not take a taxi by oneself? Instead of saying something about how the police force would do all they could to investigate the allegations and/or pass new measures to make sure passengers are safe with taxi drivers, he focused on putting the responsibility for safety unfairly and sometimes unrealistically in the hands of the passengers. Not helpful!

The taxi company’s response was a bit more helpful. Peter Valentine said they will investigate the woman’s allegation and that the taxi company is currently in discussions about installing scanners to facilitate “safe city taxi ranks.” Much more helpful than telling people to not ride in taxis alone.

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about women taxi drivers and women-only taxi services and discovered that in Brisbane, Australia, there are women-driven cabs for women passengers precisely because of male drivers harassing female passengers. I’m not a proponent of women-only forms of public transportation as a long-term solution because ultimately men’s harassing behavior must end, but I am curious to find out how the women only taxi service is going.

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