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Extreme Street Harassment in Vancouver, West Redding

May 13, 2009 By HKearl

Here are two recent news stories about extreme street harassment in Vancouver, Canada, and West Redding, UK.

In Vancouver, “a woman was walking home from a pub in the area of 98th Ave & the King George Highway just before 2 a.m. when she noticed she was being followed along 104th Avenue. Police say the man grabbed her, pushed her against a wall, pointed a gun at her and began to sexually assault her. The woman called for help and the man ran away towards the Surrey Central Bus Loop area, but using the woman’s description of the attacker, police later arrested a man on a bus.”

In West Redding: At 8:30 p.m. a 41-year old father Mark Fricker sat next to a group of young teenage girls on the upper level of a public bus. He flirted with them and said he had a son their age, and then his conversation became sexual. He began rubbing the thigh of one of the girls and kissed her on the cheek. The girls alerted the bus driver who contacted the police. In court, he admitted to sexual assault. The judge gave him a 36 month supervision order and has required that he sign the sex offenders’ register.

Thankfully the young women are all okay and the men are being or have been prosecuted.

The judgment in the first case has not been determined.

How do you feel about the ruling in the second case? From what I gather, a supervision order means the man will have to go through trainings or meetings to help him do what is necessary to stop offending in order to better keep the public safe. That seems productive. What about the registry as a sex offender? Is it too harsh for his actions? Not harsh enough? Do you think it could deter other potential sexual harassment offenders?

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]

Women-Only Subway Cars in Beijing?

May 6, 2009 By HKearl

Beijing may join places like Japan, Brazil, India, and Mexico, in having women-only modes of public transportation. In their case, it would be subway cars.

Like the initiatives in the other countries, trying to cut down on men’s harassment of women is a key reason for the separate cars. The cars would be open to children and the elderly too, because the second reason for the separate cars is to help these groups of people make it onto overly crowded trains. A survey conducted last November at one particularly busy station found that 50 percent of the 200 female respondents reported having difficulties getting on to subway cars due to the crowds.

From China Daily:

“‘We can trial women-only carriages on subway lines 1 and 2 between 7:30 and 8:30 am and from 5:30 to 6:30 pm,’ Wang told China Daily yesterday. The middle carriage could be set aside for women, with its exterior painted with eye-catching signs and the interior posted with a detailed explanation and warnings about sexual harassment, Wang said. Staff should also be deployed to advise women about the issues, he said. And he called for surveillance cameras to be installed to deter harassment and said children traveling alone and senior citizens should also be allowed to use the special carriages.”

“Chen Yu, a regular subway user, questioned whether the idea would work. ‘The fundamental reason for the overcrowding is the huge population wanting to use the subway. If all women swarm to that carriage, it will be hard to get on that one as well,’ Chen said.

The proposal will be online at www.beijing.gov.cn, www.bjzx.gov.cn/zhu.htm, and other official websites to solicit public opinion on the idea soon.

I wonder what the figures are for the harassment of women since the article didn’t cite any. I also question the viability of the initiative, though I appreciate that officials are trying to address the issues of harassment and overcrowding. What are your thoughts?

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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