Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

Renewed Efforts to Address Harassment on the NYC Subway

By

More efforts are underway in New York City to address sexual harassment on the subway system. This includes training transit police, with input from Hollaback!

Here’s some info about it overall, via the New York Times:

“Opportunistic sex crimes aboard subways are not new, nor are they news to many women. Some have been grabbed or leered at by a man who is masturbating. Many others have heard a story from a friend who felt an uncomfortable touch but was unsure if she should say something.

But cellphone cameras and social media have given women tools to fight back and provided the police a way to identify some offenders. Last year, in an effort to encourage more victims to come forward, the police began training more female officers to work the cases.
 
The police now send out a steady stream of alerts about such crimes using photos from victims’ phones to try to identify suspects. One recent Twitter post shared a photo of a man suspected of grabbing a 27-year-old woman’s buttocks on a No. 7 train in Queens this month. Two days earlier, the police posted a photo of a man who they say exposed himself to women on two trains at Grand Central Station.
 
Reported sex crimes on the subways rose 19 percent last year, to 738 from 620 in 2014. Many of those crimes were forcible touching and public lewdness, the offenses most commonly charged in connection with the sort of sexual misconduct that Detective Cross and his colleagues were on the lookout for that morning on the Lexington Avenue line.
 
Joseph Fox, the chief of the Transit Bureau, said he believed the increase in reported sex crimes was a result of more women coming forward. He expects the number of reports will keep rising as the police continue to talk about the problem.”
Share

Most Sexual Abuse on London Tube Happens During Rush Hour

By

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

Germany: Women-Only Transit Options

By

Lea Goelnitz, Berlin, Germany, Blog Correspondent

women_only_public_transportIn more than one dozen countries, women-only public transportation is chosen as a short-term (or mid-term!) solution to street harassment. These countries are as diverse as Japan, India, Brazil, the Philippines and UAE, and offer sex segregated compartments in their trains or subways. In India public buses have benches reserved for women, entire trains for women and a women-only carriage in the Delhi metro. On the platform of the metro stop, the pink sign marks the “safe” area.

As the latest example of women-only transit, in the beginning of April the Guardian reported that there would be a new women-only rickshaw- service in Pakistan. The founder was fed up with facing daily harassment and now offers safe rides in pink rickshaws. I disagree with celebrating this business idea too much if the reason for the need of such women-only services is not sufficiently seen as a problem. We have to address the root causes.

Although I used to ride in the women-only carriage in Delhi and I guess it created a certain feeling of safety, I always felt like I was being put on display. Having all the women gathered in one space surrounded by men felt awkward. It is frustrating to know that these women-only spaces are a big move away from a gender equal society and from achieving real safety. Through sex-segregation, men do not need to adjust to a society in which women are equal and have the right to be in public spaces. The onus is on women to change.

In addition to women-only trains there are taxi services for women, which are even more widespread. There is SheRides in New York, Cab for Women by Women in Delhi and the Women´s Night Taxi in Hannover, Germany. In Germany there are also women-only parking lots, which are the ones closest to the building.

These interventions and businesses run by women create a safe option for women who otherwise might not go out or who will feel uncomfortable when they are out. As long as politics and culture fail women, this might be the only way to go. On the upside, in most cases it even provides women with economic empowerment. But of course even that is not perfect; the few female drivers may face safety issues as long as they are in the male-dominated space of taxi waiting lanes and rest areas.

Since January one of the major taxi companies in Delhi incorporated women drivers, catering to female passengers as well. This might be a small step forward. At least the men driving for this company will have to get used to having female colleagues.

In order for women to be safe, more women need to be out in public, as passengers and drivers.

Lea works in journalism and women´s rights and is involved in the women´s rights NGO Discover Football, which uses football as a tool for empowerment and gender equality. Follow her on Twitter, @LeaGoelnitz.

Share

“So, I Got Followed Home from the Metro”

By

I live in St. Louis and have, for the past year and a half, relied on public transit to get to my office. I am a graduate student, and money is generally tight, but the university I go to provides parking passes to students free of charge, which helps out a lot.

Last Tuesday, I had been stuck in the lab working well past the time I would usually leave. I got on the train at about 9:30 PM, and I was one of maybe only three people in that car. The other two were guys way in the back. At the next stop, some guy gets on the train and sits right across from me, and just stares. And stares. And stares. I tried to ignore him, but I knew he was still staring.

When the train pulled up at my stop (Maplewood-Manchester), I got up to get off, and he got up right behind me. I got off the train and decided to stand at the station to wait for him to leave. He did, but when I went down the stairs, he was still at the bottom, talking to some guy, but heading in another direction. I took the alternative route back toward my apartment, and, a minute or so later, I hear someone walking behind me. I looked, and it was the same guy from the train. By this time, it was 9:45 PM, it was dark, all I wanted to do was go home, and I had some idiot from the metro following me.

He started trying to talk to me, complimenting my figure (I was wearing a huge, unflattering coat that goes down below my knees – so sexy, right?). When I ignored him, he sped up and started yelling at me (What’s wrong? Where you goin’? I not good enough for you?), and I was still alone, and it was still dark, and I still really just wanted to go home.

I finally called a friend because I was afraid he would assault me or worse if I told him to back off. Again, I was alone, it was dark out, there was no one else in sight, so there is no way he had good intentions. There had been at least one “stranger rape” near my university the week before, so I had that on my mind the whole time.

I started loudly explaining where I was and what was going on, at which point he started yelling obscenities at me, accusing me of being uppity, and threatening me, saying I had better not be calling the police. He did cross to the other side of the street, though, and just before I got to my complex, he headed down another street, still yelling at me.

I got back to my apartment feeling stupid and scared. I couldn’t sleep because I thought he might have watched me go into my apartment, so all night I thought someone might be coming to break my door down. I felt like there was nothing I could do because, if I had called the police, it would have been his word against mine, and even then, he did not touch me. He only threatened.

This is not an isolated incident. Every single time I take the metro, I get harassed. The time of day doesn’t matter. Everything from “Hey beautiful, is that a new skirt?” to “Fuck you, bitch why don’t you take my number, bitch!” if I refuse to take some guy’s number. It is the second time I’ve been followed back to my apartment complex by someone from the train who is pissed at me for not paying attention to him.

This incident was the last straw. For my physical safety, I bought a parking pass that I cannot afford. The men who harass women around here want us to stay home, in the kitchen, where we belong, out of “their” territory. Now I feel like I have given in to part of that, because I refuse to take public transit in this city anymore without others with me, and I already had to stop riding my bike in to the office because of guys who would slow down and drive beside me, “complimenting” my butt, blocking my way, or trying to get me to get into their car.

I’ve come to the conclusion that street harassers are bad for the environment – so many of us would not be driving to work or school, by ourselves, in our personal vehicles if we just had the freedom to ride our bikes or take the train!

– DK

Location: St. Louis

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem. Include your location and it will be added to the Street Harassment Map.

Share