Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

New Transit Ads in Boston Focus on Persons with Disabilities

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bostontransitadnov2016Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has launched a new wave of ads! 800 posters will be on public transit until February.

Via Boston Globe:

“The campaign is explicitly inclusive of people with disabilities, both as people who may experience sexual harassment and as people who can intervene to prevent sexual violence,” Yen-Ewert said. “National and state studies show that people with disabilities experience sexual violence at two times the rate compared to people without disabilities.”

Karen Schneiderman, the senior advocacy specialist at the Boston Center for Independent Living, said the campaign “raises awareness about the issue of sexual violence against people with disabilities and the importance of having services that are accessible to all. I also appreciate that this campaign highlights people with disabilities in the role of assisting others, not just as people who are victimized.”

Learn more at MBTA.com.

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Way to go, Boston! I also appreciate how they say they can be people who intervene, as well people who experience sexual harassment, recognizing they can have agency and take action.

MBTA has a nearly nine year history of anti-harassment ads. The first wave of ads went up in 2008, the next in 2009 and then the next in 2013. I’m glad to see them continue tackling this issue. Kudos also goes to the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center for their partnership on the ads over the years.

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Flashers, masturbators, and gropers beware

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Guys who feel like masturbating, flashing, or groping people on the subway better think twice unless they want to get caught and charged with a crime. Thanks to cell phone cameras, it’s easier than ever for people to snap photos of perpetrators and report the crimes.

HollaBack NYC has long advocated for the use of cell phone pictures to shame harassers and report those who cross the line to criminal activity. In fact, the idea for the blog was born after a woman in NYC used her cell phone to snap a picture of a subway masturbator and report him.

[Update: If you’re in the Astoria area of NYC, look out for this alleged subway sexual assaulter and if you see him, contact the police. The woman snapped his picture and has reported him]

A few months ago in Washington, D.C., a photo of a metro station upskirter and groper posted on HollaBack DC! helped lead to his arrest.

Via CNN

And now in Boston, CNN reports that a MBTA rider’s cell phone picture posted on Twitter led to the arrest of a subway flasher.

“Rider Nay Khun was riding the train Wednesday afternoon when he spotted the suspect ‘fidgeting with his crotch area with his zipper open and his penis exposed,’ according to the MBTA.

Khun immediately posted to his Twitter account a photo of the man, saying ‘pervert on the 2nd car of the red line … help me report him.’

The man is a known offender, MBTA police told CNN affiliate WHDH.

He was arrested Friday for open and gross lewdness, according to a statement from MBTA police.”

Nice work Khun and a big thank you to the Boston transit authority and police for taking this issue seriously.

No matter where you live, if you can, take pictures of harassers and post them online. If they grope, stalk, threaten, or masturbate at you, report them! Let’s use technology to our advantage and put these creeps on notice. They should know there will be consequences for their actions.

(Thanks Violet Kittappa, Director of Research and Development for Hollaback NYC, for the CNN story tip)

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More PSAs in Boston

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A year and a half ago, Boston’s MTA started an anti-sexual harassment ad campaign on the subways and buses. The campaign has led to a 40 percent increase in the number of harassers police have arrested.

Now, MBTA is preparing to launch hundreds more anti-sexual harassment posters on buses and subway cars throughout Boston in an increased effort to curb such harassment and encourage more people to report it.

I applaud MBTA for taking sexual harassment on public transportation seriously. My main concern with their ads is that while it’s useful to have info informing women of their right to report harassers, it would be nice if there was also some message about respecting women and not harassing them!

UPDATE (11/4/09): I just read an article that talks more about the increased efforts by MBTA to fight groping etc on the subways and buses and there are some new ads aimed at harassers, notably this one, so now I support their efforts even  more!

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Street Harassment Round Up – April 26

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Stories:

A contributor on Holla Back DC wrote about getting harassed by a UPS employee. She reported him and received support from the person she spoke to at UPS.

HollaBack Toronto reported that two men abducted and sexually assaulted a young woman in the Younge St-Davisville Road area earlier in the week. Visit their site to learn more — anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 416-222-8477.

Reports:

MBTA released information about their sexual harassment campaign on their subway system (the T) in Boston. They feel it’s been successful in raising awareness about how to deal with the problem as groping complaints went up 74 perecent from the previous year and police arrested 24 people for indecent assault and battery (up 85 percent from the year before).

Upcoming Events:

April 29: Holla Back DC‘s Official Blog Launch Party, 6 – 8 p.m. at Cafe Citron

May 2: Girls for Gender Equity’s “Hey…Shorty!” documentary will be featured at the 8th Annual Women of African Descent Film Festival at 11 a.m., in the Spike Lee Screening Room of Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus in New York. Cost: free

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