Tomorrow a group of Washington, DC-area residents and activists will share their experiences of sexual harassment on the DC metros and buses during the DC City Council’s performance hearing of Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA). Chai Shenoy, co-founder of Collective Action for Safe Spaces/Holla Back DC! will open the testimonies and I’ll conclude them.

If you’re a DC resident who has been harassed or seen harassment occur on WMATA, you can still sign up to testify tomorrow (it will take place approximately 1-3 p.m. at the John A. Wilson Building) or write up to a 2 page testimony to submit for the record. RSVP ASAP to shannon AT collectiveactiondc DOT org

Apparently WMATA does not even track sexual harassment on their system and there is no dedicated hotline for reporting it. Unsurprisingly then, they have no PSA campaign as do many other major commuting cities. Consequently, we have three main recommendations when we testify tomorrow, including requesting a dedicated line for reporting sexual harassment and a PSA campaign telling people not to harass and what to do if they are harassed.

On Sunday, the Washington Post covered our intended action – and the story was reprinted today in the commute paper The Express. I want to respond to the following excerpt from the article (and please read the response of Collective Action for Safe Spaces and the response of a writer for the Washington City Paper.):

“Metro Transit Police Deputy Chief Ron Pavlik said his department takes reports of sexual harassment and sexual assault incidents seriously. He says the transit police have have not seen an increase in reports of indecent exposure, rape or other types of sexual assaults.

According to Metro, 84 cases involving sexual offenses were reported to Transit Police last year. They included one rape and 40 cases of indecent exposure or other sexual acts. Of the 40, 12 involved arrests.

Officials said Metro does not track sexual harassment complaints. But Pavlik said passengers who think that they have been sexually harassed should report the incident to Transit Police. Officers receive sensitivity training in handling such complaints, he said.

He cautioned, however, that a variety of behaviors could be considered harassment.

“Someone telling another person: ‘You look good. Can I have your phone number?’ — you may not like it, but I can’t arrest the person,” Pavlik said.

Reports including sexual assault and indecent exposure are investigated, he said.”

My response:

1. Wow, only sexual assaults and indecent exposure is being tracked? That’s not good enough. Most harassment is what they’re not tracking: sexual comments, sexual noises, leers, and whistles. No wonder Metro doesn’t think this is a problem — they don’t allow the full range of experiences to be reported/tracked.

2. Most gropes/grabs, a form of sexual assault, is not reported as a sexual assault because many people don’t realize that’s what it is. 84 reports of sexual offenses is likely quite low compared to the reality, then, especially when rape itself is so under-reported.

3. Without sexual harassment being tracked/reported, I guess Deputy Chief Pavlik had to use his own imagination to explain what women face: being told they look good, followed up by a polite request for their phone number. Or at least I hope that’s why he gave the example he did and not because he purposely wanted to downplay or dismiss the seriousness of sexual harassment. Regardless of his reasons, this is the outcome:

a) He simplified and distorted what actually happens in cases of harassment. Instead of someone saying,”You look good. Can I have your phone number?” (which, yes, is legal) street harassers tend to include sexually explicit language that’s inappropriate to use with a stranger and/or they often will not leave the woman alone after getting a “no” or a blank stare. Instead, the person will leer, follow, grab or continue with verbal comments until the woman feels harassed.

b) He ignored the context. A woman who has been grabbed, followed, attacked, mastrubated at or on and verbally harassed before (and most women have) may be pretty suspicious of any guy who approaches her and says a line like that, whether he intends to harass her or not.

c) He bristled up at the thought of “hitting on someone” being considered harassment and he supported the sexist idea that it’s fine (or at least legal) in all contexts to approach a woman and evaluate her looks and ask for her phone number. I bet 95% of women who ride the bus or the metro are just trying to get from Point A to Point B, not trying to get asked out on a date or have a stranger comment on their appearance. And if they do want to get asked out, they may want to be asked a few things about themselves first or have some light chitchat. Real life is not a movie or a gum commercial.

Again, if you’re a DC resident who has been harassed or seen harassment occur on WMATA, you can still sign up to testify tomorrow (it will take place approximately 1-3 p.m. at the John A. Wilson Building) or write up to a 2 page testimony to submit for the record. Let’s show them that sexual harassment is a real, widespread problem and that it constitutes more than just “Can I have your number” comments and thus, deserves real attention from WMATA and the city council. RSVP ASAP to shannon AT collectiveactiondc DOT org