Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Taxi "Terror" in Australia

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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.'”

Photo from ABC News
Photo from ABC News

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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“It was a great day”

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Anti-Harassment Day, from Asser Yasser's Blog
Anti-Harassment Day, from Asser Yasser's Blog

Last week I wrote about the upcoming Anti-Harassment Day in Egypt on April 18. After the 18, I could only find one article in English about the event (which called it a “fiasco”), so I wrote to Asser Yasser, the woman who was the lead organizer, to find out how it went. She graciously sent me a quick e-mail about it and thanked me for my interest in their efforts. From Asser:

“It was a great day, I print[ed] many posters (about 50) … about 80 persons shared [participated in] the event with me. There was a huge number of media tv channels, news newspapers, magazines and satalight channels too.

Every one in Egypt [is] talking about that day now. One of the young men asked a girl in his neighborhood to forgive him about harassing her once before and he promised that he will protect any girl later.

The place was full of the policemen but they were really helpful that makes us feel safe and secure.

We asked [that] we shouldn’t [have to] prove the [sexual] harassment because it’s too hard to prove, the guy should prove that he didn’t do it, not us. We wanted to tell every man that it is a crime and we are all against that behavior. We wanted to tell the women everything about their rights.”

I’m glad she feels they’re being successful in raising awareness around this problem. With the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights survey last year showing 83 percent of Egyptian women experienced public sexual harassment (and almost half said that was daily harassment), it’s certainly an issue the country needs to address. (& of course, many other countries do too, like the US!)

Anti-Harassment Day, from Asser Yasser's Blog
Anti-Harassment Day, from Asser Yasser’s Blog
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"It was a great day"

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Anti-Harassment Day, from Asser Yasser's Blog
Anti-Harassment Day, from Asser Yasser's Blog

Last week I wrote about the upcoming Anti-Harassment Day in Egypt on April 18. After the 18, I could only find one article in English about the event (which called it a “fiasco”), so I wrote to Asser Yasser, the woman who was the lead organizer, to find out how it went. She graciously sent me a quick e-mail about it and thanked me for my interest in their efforts. From Asser:

“It was a great day, I print[ed] many posters (about 50) … about 80 persons shared [participated in] the event with me. There was a huge number of media tv channels, news newspapers, magazines and satalight channels too.

Every one in Egypt [is] talking about that day now. One of the young men asked a girl in his neighborhood to forgive him about harassing her once before and he promised that he will protect any girl later.

The place was full of the policemen but they were really helpful that makes us feel safe and secure.

We asked [that] we shouldn’t [have to] prove the [sexual] harassment because it’s too hard to prove, the guy should prove that he didn’t do it, not us. We wanted to tell every man that it is a crime and we are all against that behavior. We wanted to tell the women everything about their rights.”

I’m glad she feels they’re being successful in raising awareness around this problem. With the Egyptian Centre for Women’s Rights survey last year showing 83 percent of Egyptian women experienced public sexual harassment (and almost half said that was daily harassment), it’s certainly an issue the country needs to address. (& of course, many other countries do too, like the US!)

Anti-Harassment Day, from Asser Yasser's Blog
Anti-Harassment Day, from Asser Yasser’s Blog
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Boston T Anti-Harassment Campaign Update

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boston-anti-grope-campaign-sign-2It’s been a year since the MBTA launched a public awareness campaign about sexual harassment on the Boston transit (the T). Transit Police Chief Paul MacMillan recently said, “This campaign has been highly effective in addressing this persistent issue. Not only have more victims reported this crime, but because of their reports, we have been able to arrest more and more of the offenders.”

The Boston Globe reports that since the campaign launched, the number of groping complaints increased 74 percent. Over the same period, police arrested 24 people for indecent assault and battery, which was an increase of 85 percent from the year before.

I had been wondering what the results of their campaign would be and I’m glad to hear it seems to be positive as far as raising awareness among riders that groping is illegal and encouraging people to report it when it happens.

When I read the article, there were 25 comments from readers. Most of the opening comments were from men concerned that women were overreacting to being on crowded trains and were probably reporting innocent men. Fortunately, many other commenters then jumped in either sharing their experience being obviously groped on the T or defending women who know the difference between groping and just being sardined on a crowded train. Good for them. Educate the ignorant!

Do you take the T? Do you think the anti-harassment campaign has had an impact during the past year?

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Runner Murdered in Vancouver Park

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The absolute worst outcome of street harassment is murder.

ladner-beaudryPolice aren’t entirely sure if the murder of a 53 year old woman named Wendy Ladner-Beaudry who was running in Vancouver was random (form of street harassment) or targeted. But chances are, the fact that she was a woman running alone in a park made her assailant feel more able to or justified in attacking her…

A fellow woman runner wrote a poignant article in the Vancouver Sun about Wendy”s tragic murder and what that means to her as a female runner in that area. Excerpt:

“I know there is truth that random acts can happen anywhere at any time and that I should not be stymied and let cowardly predators win. I know this. I also know my husband will not change his habits when he runs in the park. His gender gives him the freedom to go alone at any time of the day.

This loss of a runner-in-arms has inspired fear. This loss of freedom I reluctantly accept because I love living more than I love running.

I will get a whistle. And I will purchase them for my running buddies.

I will go running this weekend with my girlfriends in the park.

I will not go in those woods alone to run.

My ears will prickle when I am there. Listening for a predator.

I will hear the woodpecker on Sasamat trail because I will not have my iPod.

I will look at the guests in the park with a keen eye.

I will not go at dawn or dusk.”

Just like the attack on a female runner in New York City earlier this year, the attacker hasn’t been found, so that certainly would add to my fear were I a runner in that area. It’s very difficult to make sense out of a tragedy like this and hard not to want to recoil in reaction and self preservation. And I think she’s right, her husband and other men probably will not alter their lives, but women runners may – if they weren’t already making such alterations – out of fear of being the wrong woman at the wrong place at the wrong time. What a shame.

Update: I found another article with more info about Wendy, including an interview with her husband:

“As well as being a high-performance athlete most of her life, Beaudry said, his wife was a dedicated volunteer, helping women at a local food bank get running shoes so they could participate in an annual charity run.

He said his wife made daily solo runs in Pacific Spirit Park.

‘She always went in there knowing she was a woman and had to be careful, and that there were risks. This was not someone who went into anything blindly.’

His wife would have been the first one to organize a run in the park after such a killing to show her lack of intimidation, Beaudry said.”

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