Stop Street Harassment

Making Public Spaces Safe and Welcoming

CTA Tattler Calls Out Grinder

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cta_tattler_headerBravo to the Chicago CTA Tattler blog for highlighting the Rogers Park Young Women’s Action Team’s spoken word event this Saturday and for generally addressing sexual harassment on the Chicago’s public transportation system.

For example, here’s a story from December about a serial genital “grinder.” A woman named Trish had a man grind up behind her on a crowded bus. When she yelled at him, another woman leaned over to say he had done it to her too. Trish called the police to file a report & tells readers:

“Ladies, if he bothers you, call him out, humiliate him before the rest of the bus/train car, and call the police! Note the time, date, run # and bus # and call the CTA too. Reporting is the only way to stop him. This is predatory sexual behavior, and it is NOT your fault, and the only way to protect yourself and your fellow passengers is to get the word out, to us and to the authorities.”

So often these types of articles end up having commenters say things about how women overreact, make things up, and dress provocatively to incite such behavior, so all of the positive, supportive comments were refreshing.  Three or four women even said they thought this was the same man that had grinded on them too and so now they were going to report it too. Two of my favorite comments:

“This person is a serial molester. He forced himself on me on the 147 and I know others who have had the same experience. What you need to do is report the problem to the CTA. The person I spoke with is James Higgins and he can be reached at JHiggins@transitchicago.com. He was fully aware of this individual and even sent me a photo for me to ID him. He said you can do 2 things if this happens: ask the bus drive to sound the silent alarm and a police car will meet the bus at the next stop, or call 911 and request it yourself. Apparently they don’t yet have enough evidence to convict him, so the more people who report the problem hopefully the sooner he’ll be arrested and convicted.” – Beth

“Of the women here who said it happened to them and they suspect it might be the same guy: Can you get a time consensus on when it happened to each of you? That might help in catching the guy. If he’s on there at a particular time when he does it, it might be easier to catch him. Hell, form a posse if you know when he makes his move, stake out a spot and catch him. You all will be famous heroes!” – Dude

Crazy how one man can harass so many women and still be on the loose. It illustrates really well how women fear overreacting to or being wrong about what’s happening and so they ignore it, but we need to try to get past that and face the small chance we could be wrong and report them!

Also, do buses in other places have silent alarms? Does anyone know?

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Street Harassment Round Up – June 21

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Stories:

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.

  • On this blog, women in Chicago and Hawaii talk about being fed up by the volume of street harassment they face on a daily to weekly basis.
  • On HollaBack Toronto, a contributor wrote a post about having a TTC subway employees flirt with/harass her when she was paying her fare. The Director of Corporate Communications for TTC saw the post and wrote to HB Toronto with information about how passengers can file complaints about employees. This post was followed by one from another contributor telling about a time a TTC employee made her feel uncomfortable and unsafe. Harassment on public transportation is global!
  • On Holla Back NYC, a contributor tells about getting oogled by men at a community pool, but they complained to the pool management and then men had to leave.
  • Holla Back DC! has a contributor post from a woman who was asked “how’d you get that cute ass” by a man who then turned very angry when she asked him not to harass her.
  • Two years ago Blank Noise Project asked readers to submit their list of things they wished they could do in their city (for example, smile when they wanted, not have to think about who’s watching them, be able to go out at night and be safe…) and this past Saturday afternoon, they invited people to come to Cubbon Park to live out their wish list, including wearing something they wished they could wear but never had for fear of harassment.

In the News:

Upcoming Events:

Street Harassment Resource of the Week:

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Street Harassment Round Up – June 14

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New Feature:

  • Visit the Stop Street Harassment Website’s “Map It” page to see where various street harassment incidents have occurred – click on the pushpins to read their stories. (Note: if the pushpins don’t show up at first, try refreshing your browser once or twice. Not sure why this is happening but refreshing eventually makes them show up). Submit your story.

Stories:

  • On this blog, a young woman in London, Ontario, Canada, tells how a boy slapped her on the backside from his bike while she was running. Her anger at the harassment led her to write an article about street harassment for her college.
  • On Holla Back NYC, a contributor tells how a man groped her under her dress while she was buying a Metrocard at the subway!
  • Holla Back DC! has a contributor post from a woman who used to be catcalled every day in her neighborhood and one day a man followed her and threatened her by saying her address and saying he’d come find her, so she better not go to sleep!

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem!

In the News:

  • Emily May of Hollaback NYC wrote an op-ed for New York’s Metro newspaper about how harassment and other misdemeanors must be included in the MTA’s crime count because without subway transparency, the crimes will continue unabated.
  • In Salt Lake City, UT, a man was arrested for groping two women (two different incidents) in public. The police fear there may be other victims and encourage any to come forward.
  • In San Francisco, CA, a man was reported to police for sexually assaulting women on the Muni transit system. Anyone with tips about the man can call (415) 553-1651.

Upcoming Events:

Street Harassment Resource of the Week:

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Street Harassment Round Up – May 17

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Stories:

On Holla Back DC! a contributor talks about her bystander efforts to challenge street harassers. She says, “If I’m close enough when I spot men ogling women who are unaware they’re being ogled, I usually say something in the lines of ‘I saw you do that, and you better not try it with me! Nasty!’ to embarrass them.'”

As mentioned in the last two week round ups, since April 26, HollaBack NYC has been posting one photo a day of street harassers. They will continue to do so for a month. All of the photos are being submitted by one woman, Sally N., a New York City resident. Emily at HollaBack NYC says, “We believe these pictures tell the story of what it’s like to be a woman in the big apple.” Visit HollaBack NYC to see these photos.

Share your street harassment story today and help raise awareness about the problem!

In the News:

  • A man disguised as a woman gropes a woman on the women-only subway car in Mexico City
  • A man in Vancouver, Canada, and a man in West Redding, UK, were arrested and tried, respectively, for sexual assault of young women in public places.

Upcoming Events:

Street Harassment Resource of the Week:

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