• About Us
    • What Is Street Harassment?
    • Why Stopping Street Harassment Matters
    • Meet the Team
      • Board of Directors
      • Past Board Members
    • In The Media
  • Our Work
    • National Street Harassment Hotline
    • International Anti-Street Harassment Week
    • Blog Correspondents
      • Past SSH Correspondents
    • Safe Public Spaces Mentoring Program
    • Publications
    • National Studies
    • Campaigns against Companies
    • Washington, D.C. Activism
  • Our Books
  • Donate
  • Store

Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Harassment Stories
    • Blog Correspondents
    • Street Respect Stories
  • Help & Advice
    • National Street Harassment Hotline
    • Dealing With Harassers
      • Assertive Responses
      • Reporting Harassers
      • Bystander Responses
      • Creative Responses
    • What to Do Before or After Harassment
    • Street Harassment and the Law
  • Resources
    • Definitions
    • Statistics
    • Articles & Books
    • Anti-Harassment Groups & Campaigns
    • Male Allies
      • Educating Boys & Men
      • How to Talk to Women
      • Bystander Tips
    • Video Clips
    • Images & Flyers
  • Take Community Action
  • Contact

USA: Harassment should not be an Intrinsic Part of Using Public Transportation

January 25, 2016 By Correspondent

Kathleen Moyer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, SSH Blog Correspondent

Los Angeles Metro Ad“Why don’t we get off the bus right here and go get something to eat?” said the man sitting next to me, who had been harassing me since he got on the bus.

“No,” I responded immediately for what must have been the fifth consecutive time. When I looked out the grimy bus window at the surrounding area, I noticed there were no restaurants in clear sight and doubtfully wondered whether he really wanted me to get off the bus so he could take me somewhere to eat. Before he got off at his stop, he asked for my number. When I wouldn’t give it to him, he gave me his instead, leaning over me to make sure I was saving it in my phone. I guess he wanted to be sure that I had it, just in case I changed my mind and decided that his incessant remarks about my appearance were actually charming.

This was the first time that I experienced harassment on public transportation. Seeing as I live in a large city and don’t yet drive, I rely on public transportation often. Unfortunately, since that first incident, I’ve learned that harassment on public transportation is something that’s simply expected, especially if you’re a woman. Recently, I asked other frequent public transportation users I know about their experiences with harassment.

“The conversation started out normal, but then he started asking me uncomfortable questions,” one woman began. “He said that he had a wife that he didn’t live with anymore and some grown children, and asked if I’d like to come with him to a hotel for sexual interaction…I told him no thank you and how he should be loyal to his wife, but he kept insisting and told me he’d even pay me for my time, because in Russia, that’s what he used to do. He then put his hand on my thigh, and then I stood up and moved to another seat on the bus to get away from him.”

Another woman I spoke to shared an experience in which she was harassed by a clearly intoxicated man who should not have been on the bus in the first place. “I was on the bus leaving work…I started eating a hoagie and this drunk guy in the row next to me started moaning and making obscene gestures at me. Then he moved to the seat next to me and said ‘Do you want to play?’ and reached out to grab me. Before he could, I yelled ‘Get away from me!’ and luckily that was enough to make him run out of the bus before anything else could happen.”

Fortunately, this woman, as well as another woman I spoke to, was able to scare off her harasser. I assume that the harassers ran away in these instances because they were taken by surprise. After all, we’re taught to simply ignore harassers on buses and trains, because sadly, that’s usually the safest and easiest response. I believe that harassers know this and try to take advantage of it. That’s why they sometimes act in such a cowardly manner when their victims respond in a way that deviates from what they’ve come to expect. However, victims of harassment shouldn’t be solely responsible for addressing the issue.

Thankfully, some transit authorities have taken action to fight harassment, with Boston’s transit authority leading the way in 2008 and Chicago in 2009.

* Since 2012, Stop Street Harassment and Collective Action for Safes Spaces have worked on a campaign with the Washington, DC area transit authority that includes PSAs, an online reporting portal, and training for frontline employees.

* In 2014, the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority created a webpage through which victims of harassment would be able to anonymously report incidents and submit photo evidence.

* Transport for London launched a campaign called “Report it to stop it” in April of last year. As the name suggests, the goal of the campaign was to encourage more people to report instances of harassment.

* A similar campaign called “Speak Up” was developed in Los Angeles, in October of last year.

* Also last fall, the French government launched a campaign in which public transportation lines were plastered with posters printed with sexual remarks typical of those frequently heard on public transport lines. The bottom of the posters say, “A woman’s life should not look like this.”

While these efforts are promising, the problem seems to still remain unaddressed in most areas, allowing harassment to continue to be seen as an intrinsic part of using public transportation. Perhaps public transportation companies know that most people who use their services do so because it’s their only method of transportation; the fact that these companies won’t lose customers could be a factor in them not prioritizing the issue. Perhaps local governments are not aware of how prevalent the problem is. No matter what is preventing the problem from being addressed, it must change immediately. No one should feel threatened anytime they travel via bus or train and unwanted sexual behavior should not be a normal part of someone’s daily commute.

As the posters in France say, a woman’s life should not look like this. No one’s life should look like this.

Kathleen is a full-time graduate student studying professional and business communication. She plans initiatives to increase awareness of sexual assault, domestic violence, and other related issues through her university’s anti-sexual violence group, Explorers Against Sexual Violence.

Share

Filed Under: correspondents, public harassment, Resources Tagged With: Boston, London, los angeles, metro, paris, philadelphia, public transportation, Washington DC

Most Sexual Abuse on London Tube Happens During Rush Hour

January 10, 2016 By HKearl

New information was released about sexual abuse on the London Tube.

Via The Independent.

“The majority of sexual assaults on the Tube are committed during peak travel times, according to new figures which challenge the popular belief that women are most at risk when travelling late at night.

Statistics from the British Transport Police (BTP) showed that between 1 January 2014 and 8 December 2015, 322 sexual assaults were reported on the London Underground network between 5pm and 7pm, along with 291 from 8am until 10am. This compares to just 110 between 11pm and 1am.

Sarah Green, the acting director of the End Violence Against Women Coalition, said: “These figures tell a compelling story about how sexual harassment is mostly experienced during daytime commuter journeys – not during late-night social hours.”

The findings “explode a myth that women who have been drinking or who are dressed a certain way provoke sexual harassment, because the victims at peak morning and early evening travel times are largely working women making commuter journeys”, she added.”

This has also been true on other transit systems where data have been collected. It shows that the advice to women to stay in at night isn’t effective… most harassment and violence is happening during daylight hours, in crowded places.

Share

Filed Under: News stories, public harassment, Resources Tagged With: London, public transit, reports, sexual assault, tube, UK

UK: London Needs Anti-Harassment Posters

May 7, 2015 By Contributor

For many women, the streets are not ‘public’ spaces. Rather, they are places where our actions and clothes are judged by others, and our feelings of security are put into question. This often occurs in the form of sexual harassment or assault, an encounter which is intimidating, demeaning, invasive and frustrating. I would like to add here that I fully acknowledge that various forms of sexual harassment and assault are also suffered by men and transsexual people.

These experiences don’t stop when we step from the street onto London’s public transport and so I was relieved when I heard of an initiative called Project Guardian. As stated on its website, it is a ‘long-term project involving British Transport Police (BTP), Transport for London (TfL), Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police, which aims to reduce sexual assault and unwanted behaviour on public transport in London’. Apart from the name, which implies that women need to be protected rather than needing to be given a platform and the agency to strengthen and empower themselves, it is a wonderful and much needed project.

Given that Project Guardian has been running for nearly two years, when I excitedly mentioned it to friends of mine living in London I expected them to be aware of it, yet none of them were. I wondered if these responses represented a wider trend and so I created a survey in January 2015 asking Londoners of their knowledge of Project Guardian. The results were shocking: 84.3% of respondents using London transport ‘daily’ or ‘once or twice a week’ ‘have not heard of [Project Guardian] & don’t know what it is’ and 13.8% of respondents ‘have heard of it but don’t really know what it is’. Equally 72.8% did not know that ‘lewd comments or leering’ are reportable offences. Yet, when the initiative was explained almost all of the respondents were supportive of its aims and thought it to be a valuable and needed service.

My findings contrasted with an article in the Guardian from October 2013, written by Laura Bates, who’s illuminating Everyday Sexism project helped to advise the Project Guardian team. The article implied that the ‘20% increase in the reporting of sexual offences on the transport network’ was due to the launch of Project Guardian in April that year. However, I doubt the reliability of this claim because my findings show that very few Londoners have even heard of Project Guardian.

This trend is not surprising given that no posters advising passengers of what Project Guardian is and how to use it exist on the London transport network. I started to wonder why this was so, given the endless stream of TfL posters advertising other safety and security issues. I contacted TFL asking if there was a planned poster campaign, given that in September 2014 it was reported in the Londonist that Boris Johnson and Peter Hendry (Transport for London Commissioner) had said that such a campaign was planned. Their response was that ‘an integrated communications campaign is in development’. This came in April 2015 in the form of a social media based campaign called ‘Report It To Stop It’. On the launch day, BTP said that there are no plans for posters in the pipe line but ‘we have more than 300,000 handouts ready plus a big digital campaign to spread the word’.

Whilst a positive move by the Project Guardian team, this recent effort seems insufficient. Aside from the absence of a trigger warning on the rather graphic short film, it is also problematic as it is ‘aimed at women aged between 16 and 35’. I am campaigning for Project Guardian posters on the London Transport system because this way, a zero tolerance policy surrounding sexual harassment and assault will be clearly stated to all members of this public, including potential perpetrators. This would be more effective than a campaign only directed at potential victims. A short film and a few thousand leaflets can’t compete with the publicity generated by a widespread and permanent poster campaign.

Aside from the practical advantages of a poster campaign, I want to see Project Guardian given equal priority to combating other safety and security issues. There are currently 40 different poster campaigns on the transport network including those telling passengers ‘Please don’t play your music too loud’ and to be ‘Beware pickpocket’s tactics’. While these are valid safety & wellbeing concerns, it is outrageous that an issue so serious as sexual harassment and assault is not deemed worthy of a poster campaign. It’s ironic to note that TFL recently allowed the body-shaming adverts from Protein World on Tube platforms, but they don’t think Project Guardian posters are needed. This seems to echo the universal lack of recognition for women’s issues and the often contradictory messages surrounding them.

I did not start this campaign because I believe that law enforcement is the only, or most important, means of change. However, I believe that as a society we have normalised this form of violence against women and therefore posters informing the public that these are reportable offences are needed. Not only do the perpetrators need to know that this will not be tolerated, but those who have experienced sexual harassment or assault need to know that they will be listened to, taken seriously and supported in their responses by both police and surrounding members of the public. It needs to be clearly communicated that reportable offences include sexual touching, exposure, outraging public decency, lewd comments, leering and harassment, for which Project Guardian provides a specialist phone and text line through which to contact them.

Please help to support this campaign by following our Twitter page and tweeting us with your photos of TfL’s current posters and ask them why there aren’t any for #ProjGuardian.

Please tell friends and family about Project Guardian and keep your eyes out for the petition coming soon!

Matilda campaigns for women’s rights and against street harassment, founded Underreported Street Harassment and is a recent graduate from University of Leeds, UK. 

Share

Filed Under: Activist Interviews, public harassment Tagged With: London, PSAs, transportation

Today’s Events – April 13

April 13, 2015 By BPurdy

Here are the main events happening for day two of International Anti-Street Harassment Week!

Virtual Events:

April 13 | 2 p.m. EDT: @StopStHarassmnt, @NoStHarassWeek and @Noacosocalles will chat about practical solutions to street harassment.

April 13, 6-7pm – Me=You Street Harassment Awareness will be hosting a Google Hangout with Erin McKelle from Stop Street Harassment (SSH), who will be speaking about this cause and answering questions on sexual harassment. INFO. 

Stop Harcelement de Rue (Paris) will be hosting a Twitter chat about sexism and harassment on public transportation (@stophdr #terminusrelou) [3 pm]

 

International Events:

Colombia: Hosted by OCAC Colombia:

5PM to 8PM: TALK “COMPLIMENT OR HARASSMENT, LET’S TALK ABOUT STREET HARASSMENT.” Street harassment is an issue that must be discussed, so we will be waiting for you at the Camilo Torres Auditorium of the Sociology’s building at the National University.

CHARLA “GALANTERÍA O ACOSO, HABLEMOS DE ACOSO CALLEJERO.” El acoso callejero es un tema del que hay que hablar, así que les esperamos en el Auditorio Camilo Torres del edificio de Sociología de la Universidad Nacional.

United Kingdom: London transit will be releasing their marketing video for the anti-harassment campaign Project Guardian called Report It to Stop It.

France: Stop Harcelement de Rue (LILLE) New poster campaign launch [8 pm.]

 

USA Events:

Georgia: Hollaback! Atlanta will be hosting  Let Me HOLLA at You – A Panel Discussion. Presented by Holla!ATL’s Tayler Mathews and Clark Atlanta University’s Women’s Initiative Program [6pm – 7:30pm at Clark Atlanta University, McPheeters Dennis, RM 201, 223 James P Brawley Dr SW, Atlanta, GA 30314

Illinois: Volunteers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne campus are hosting #GamerGate Hot Topics Dialogues, a discussion about online harassment [7pm, Women’s Resources Center]

Nebraska: The sociology, queer alliance and radical notion clubs at Hastings College are hosting a “Cats against Catcalling” sticker giveaway [April 13]

Utah: Fearless Self Defense is hosting “Take Back The Streets With Chalk!” [3-7pm at Liberty Park, Salt Lake City]

Washington D.C.: American University’s Take Back The Night event will in part address street harassment  [7-10pm]

Washington D.C.: GW Feminist Student Union has been creating a photo campaign in which GW students holding a sign with an example of street harassment that has happened to them. On April 13, they will be debuting the photos, adding new ones, and handing out empowering compliments to those who want them! [Kogan Plaza at George Washington University]

Share

Filed Under: anti-street harassment week Tagged With: #GamerGate, American University, atlanta, Cats Against Catcalling, Clark Atlanta University, colombia, Erin McKelle, Fearless Self Defense, france, George Washington University, georgia, GW Feminist Student Union, Hastings College, Holla! ATL, illinois, London, Me=You: Sexual Harassment Awareness, Nebraska, nosacosocalles, OCAC, paris, Project Guardian, Report It to Stop it, salt lake city, Stop Harcelement de Rue, take back the night, united kingdom, University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne, utah, Washington DC

UK: New Campaign Addresses Transit Harassment

August 13, 2013 By Correspondent

By: Tilly Grove, London, UK, SSH Correspondent

Via www.BTP.police.uk

As a student at a London university, the city’s transport system is something I use daily during term time. Consequently, I stand alongside the 15 per cent of women who responded to a Transport for London (TfL) survey and reported that they had experienced some form of sexual harassment or assault on the London transport network. In fact, I consider myself to stand alongside a much larger percentage of women. That 15 per cent is only of the women who responded to the survey, and only those who felt comfortable talking about what had happened to them in the first place. Often, women do not even realise that what has occurred to them is sexual harassment. Either way, 90 per cent of the women in that survey said that they had not reported what happened to them to the police, and TfL have rightly identified that this is a huge problem.

Project Guardian is the initiative that seeks to change that. The British Transport Police (BTP), working closely with TfL, Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police, have recognised that sexual harassment on public transport is a major concern for travellers, and vastly under-reported. Having studied a similar exercise in Boston, and with guidance from women’s campaign groups like the End Violence Against Women coalition, Everyday Sexism, and Hollaback London, Project Guardian will see all 2,000 of the officers working on the public transport network receive training in victim awareness, and selected officers given extra training on sexual offences courses.

The core aim of Project Guardian is to increase awareness of sexual offences, and encourage victims to come forward. By clearly outlining what constitutes a sexual offence, the BTP are taking a good first step. A lot of women – myself included – will likely not have been aware, for example, that any comments or actions that make them uncomfortable on their journeys constitute harassment. When I have had men actively stalk me across platforms and through carriages, or make obvious efforts to stare up my skirt, or make sexually charged comments about my appearance, I would certainly never have thought that this was something I should report, and not just something I had to shrug off. The BTP insists that any offence of this nature will be taken “extremely seriously”, and urges anyone who has witnessed or experienced something to come forward.

While not the primary objective of the initiative, a reduction in instances of sexual assault would certainly be desirable too, as has been seen in Boston. Project Guardian seeks to deter offenders by deploying up to 180 officers to stations at a time, using undercover officers, creating a high police profile at vulnerable times and places (like quiet stations late at night), working in partnership with railway businesses, using CCTV footage, and publishing details of all successful prosecutions. Judging by the figures from its first week, it might be set for success: reporting of sexual offences increased by 26%, and 10 arrests were made. This may see the initiative rolled out elsewhere across Britain.

The Twitter hashtag #ProjGuardian illustrates clearly that experiences of sexual harassment are not a rarity, and not a one-off. There are thousands of women sharing their stories, all of them demonstrating that this has become an accepted part of our experiences as women in public. Even when it is not physically happening to us, the possibility of it is always hanging over us. If Project Guardian can change one thing, it can change the idea amongst so many of us that it has to be this way, that we must be silent and accept it. Ideally, it will change more than that. When Ellie Cosgrave had a man ejaculate on her on the train, she took matters into her own hands and put on a brilliant and intelligent protest, Take Back the Tube; she did this because she had reported it to TfL, who did not even respond. Women deserve more than this. We deserve organisations that listen to us and take us seriously, and most importantly, we deserve to be able to use the public transport network without constant fear and anticipation of someone violating us in the first place. Let’s hope Project Guardian is the start of that.

To report sexual offences to the British Transport Police, talk to staff or officers at the station, text 61016, or call 0800 40 50 40.

Tilly is studying for a BA in War Studies at King’s College London, where she is writing her dissertation on the effect that perceptions of gender have on the roles which women adopt in conflict. You can follow her on Tumblr and Twitter, @tillyjean_.

Share

Filed Under: correspondents, News stories, public harassment Tagged With: London, Project Guardian

« Previous Page
Next Page »

Share Your Story

Share your street harassment story for the blog. Donate Now

From the Blog

  • #MeToo 2024 Study Released Today
  • Join International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2022
  • Giving Tuesday – Fund the Hotline
  • Thank You – International Anti-Street Harassment Week 2021
  • Share Your Story – Safecity and Catcalls Collaboration

Buy the Book

  • Contact
  • Events
  • Join Us
  • Donate
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2025 Stop Street Harassment · Website Design by Sarah Marie Lacy