Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Chicago’s Superstars Address Harassment on the CTA

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I’ve long admired the anti-street harassment work of the Rogers Park Young Women’s Action Team (YWAT) in Illinois (for example, a few years ago they held a citywide Day of Activism against Street Harassment). Their current work to address harassment on Chicago’s public transportation makes me admire then even more.

Photo from the Sun Times
Photo from the Sun Times

The YWAT recently surveyed 639 CTA riders, mostly young women, and found that over half of the respondents had been sexually harassed on the CTA and thirteen percent had been sexually assaulted. Of those who had been harassed or assaulted, only 9 percent said they filed a complaint with the police or CTA. Supporting the low reporting rate, there were only two recorded incidents of criminal sexual assault on the whole Chicago transportation system in 2008. Via the Chicago Sun Times:

“Ronnett Lockett, 20, a Northern Illinois University student and another member of the group, said one problem is that women might be frightened and not know how to respond. Ads on trains would help people know what to do, Lockett said.

The group also wants CTA employees and police to be trained in how to deal with harassment. …

CTA spokeswoman Noelle Gaffney said the agency takes these things ‘very seriously.’ But riders who feel threatened have to speak up, she said.

‘Should a customer feel threatened at any time as the result of another individual’s behavior, they should notify the rail operator immediately via the use of the emergency call button,’ Gaffney said.

At L stations, customer assistants or security guards are on duty during service hours, Gaffney said.

And CTA buses and many L stops are equipped with security cameras networked to the CTA’s control center, Gaffney said. Some stations have already been renovated to include brighter lighting, and the agency is in the process of installing more security cameras.”

The YWAT is holding a poetry slam about sexual harassment on the CTA to gather more stories about harassment and open community dialogue about this problem too many women and girls face. The event will be held on June 27.

I’m glad they are continuing to address the problem of harassment and assault in public spaces (like buses and subways) that women in their community face simply for being female.  Their work will make a difference.

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NYers for Safe Transit: June Community Forum

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TakeBackPublicTransitJune8EventNYCAs recent news stories attest, gender-based harassment on public transportation in NYC is a problem. Want to be part of the discussion around finding a solution?

“In response to an ongoing rash of sexual assaults and harassment occurring in the subways, New Yorkers for Safe Transit (NYFST) is hosting a forum for concerned community members and anti-violence activists to analyze the rampancy of gender-based violence in the New York City public transit system and discuss strategies to address this problem…

New Yorkers for Safe Transit are urging the MTA to take greater responsibility to increase riders’ safety by implementing better protocols to address violence, by training employees to be appropriate first responders, and by installing upgraded or repairing broken emergency equipment.

Emily May from HollabackNYC, Doyin Ola from RightRides, Veronica Tirado from Girls for Gender Equity, and Cate Contino from the Straphangers Campaign, are expected to speak at the forum on issues including budget cuts, organizing straphangers, addressing violence, and making change within our public transit system.”

PROGRAM: Taking Back Public Transit: Confronting Violence on Board (community forum)
DATE: Monday, June 8, 2009
TIME: 7 – 9 p.m.
LOCATION: Brecht Forum, 451 West St. (btwn. Bank & Bethune)

Please join them for this important forum and help spread the word! (Contact info for them)

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Man in Disguise Gropes Woman on Mexico Subway

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In Mexico City there are women-only subway cars (and buses) due to men harassing women — listen to this story twist!

Image Credit: Light Rail Now
Image Credit: Light Rail Now

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?

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I let myself down

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I haven’t been street harassed in a while but I got harassed a few times this past week and I let myself down in how I reacted.

Last Sunday I was on vacation in Utah with my family. My partner was flying in that evening from a conference to spend the last few days of the vacation with us. I had been wearing running clothes the whole time but thought I’d wear some nicer clothes to get him at the airport and maybe they accentuated my “lady parts.” Before going to the airport, I stopped at a gas station to fill up the gas tank and clean the car an uncle was letting me borrow. My credit card wasn’t working at the pump so I had to go inside to see the cashier. You would have thought I walked in there naked or something – all these men inside stopped what they were doing and leered at me. I felt sooo uncomfortable. Then when I was vacuuming the car, a car full of guys at a red light near by were hooting and hollaring out of their windows at me. When I looked up they got louder and I quickly looked away and walked to the other side of the car. I later cried about these instances because I felt so humiliated and also so mad at myself for not doing anything – even though I’ve read, written, talked, blogged about street harassment so many times and know plenty of ways I could have reacted. I also hated that in the back of my mind I was thinking how if I had stayed wearing my running clothes maybe I wouldn’t have gotten harassed even though in the past I’ve gotten harassed the most while running in running clothes.

Then yesterday I got harassed when I was walking from my office to the metro on my way home from work. A couple of guys were sitting together in a park I had to pass and one of them said, “Hey, smile, you’re beautiful” and then when I didn’t make eye contact or say anything, he said, “okay, frown then.” Of course this is pretty benign, but it’s still an invasion of my space and a way to mark me out as a sexual object. Again I did nothing and was just fuming when I got to the metro at the men and again at myself. And again, I thought, geez, I wear a tight shirt to work and look what happens. Even after all I’ve learned about street harassment, that still went through my brain!!

Anyway, I’ve resolved to create my own business cards to hand out to harassing men because confrontations are so hard for me but I think I could be brave enough to hand them a card that says don’t harass women and maybe in time I can get up the courage to tell them.

– holly

Location: Salt Lake City, UT and Washington, DC

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Blank Noise Spectator Survey

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The wonderful anti-street harassment activists in India over at the Blank Noise are holding a special survey/discussion on their site through August 15th about being a spectator of street harassment. Of their website visitors who take their poll, 13% reported being a spectator of street harassment.

This is what they ask: “Blank Noise Spectators Special asks members of the public, both men and women, to share what they witnessed. What was your first reaction? Was it to intervene? Was it to ignore? What did you do? What would you rather have done? Can you share your thoughts about being a spectator. If you have been a ‘special spectator’ , that is, intervened in the situation, please tell us how! Was it with wit and humor? Or did you physically assault the ‘perpetrator’? Did you walk away? Or call the cops? Or gather a crowd? Or see another spectator take charge of the situation and participate in any way?”

I admit I’m not much of a confrontational person and it’s something I’m working on but there was one time I almost did say something. I was on the Washington, DC metro (I live in the DC area and take it to/from work etc) on a weekend and it was crowded and there were two young women standing near me dressed to impress and on my other side were a bunch of young men pointing and whispering crude things about the women. The women had their backs to the men and seemed oblivious of what was happening and that is what kept me from intervening. I think if the women had noticed I might have intervened. However, I wish I had anyway because they were being extremely crude and just talking about the women like they only consisted of body parts etc.

Anyway, check out Blank Noise and also feel free to leave your comments on this blog if you’re so inclined 🙂

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