I often utilise women only spaces (officially ones or unofficial ones) to avoid
harassment in public & at social events (toilets, gyms, kitchens at
parties, clothes shops) and, you know what? It works. The issue of public
transport is the issue of choice. Now, it would be real simple if you and your
buddies could make the honourable choice to stop flexing your metaphorical
members in a cat call-off on a Friday night, but my experience has concluded
that you can’t. So the idea of women only coaches on trains and tubes (proposed
for consultation with women by Jeremy Corbyn) is one simple (by no means 100% solve-all
option to give women a choice to be in a carriage with no men in it. Now,
whilst there may be problems with this idea (that would be useful for women to discuss together) men have taken
to twitter to air their disgust at this policy idea.
I have been harassed on public transport since the age of
14. Telling me that this ‘could easily happen to men’ even though it doesn’t is
telling me that I, at age 14 on the train from Southport to Appley Bridge
deserved to be cornered and & have middle aged men interrogate me about body.
Because the truth of the matter is in the last eleven years
I have grown to expect to be sexually harassed and assaulted on public
transport with very little support from other passengers. And when that support
comes it is usually from other women.
Every time I have been harassed on public transport it has
been (to my knowledge) by a man 99.9% of these instances the man has been white
99.9% of instance he has been unchallenged.
-It was a man who repeatedly tried to touch me on an empty
platform in Liverpool when I was 21.
-It was a man who harassed me on a weekly basis on the 395
bus from Ormskirk to Skelmersdale, who got annoyed when I refused to speak to
him and followed me part of the way home when I was 19.
-It was a man who rubbed his genitals on my hip on the
London Underground when I was 18.
-It was a man who intercepted another man who was drunkenly
propositioning me at Ormskirk bus station only to then sexually harass me for
the entire journey home when I was 22. Imagine that- getting sexually harassed
whilst you’re being sexually harassed.
-It was a group of boys (age 12-16) who spat at me, threw
food and drinks at me & chanted names at me every morning on the school bus
in Shevington when I was 14.
-It was a man who touched my body without my consent on the
143 bus in Manchester when I was 23. And who got the funny looks when I shouted
over to my friend ‘Ew this man is trying
to grope me’? Oh yeah, me.
-It was a man who rubbed his thigh against my leg and read
over my shoulder on the bus last night.
-It was a group of four men who made comments about my fat
body this morning at the coach station.
I am 25.
I have been spat at, cornered, followed, groped, shouted at,
whispered to, blocked from moving, stared at, spoken about, had pictures taken
of me, been called names, been coerced into conversation, been sexually shamed
& had my belongings confiscated.
I have tried ignoring it, challenging, discussing it,
reporting it, shouting back, glaring, asking other passengers for help &
physical confrontation.
Any whilst it might hurt a few feelings for men who have
decided that this is ‘segregation’ (which is not only pretty flagrant use of a
racially charged word but just horrifically incorrect) or that ‘all carriages
should be harassment free’ (yeah, they should, but erm, they aren’t & I
don’t see you looking up from your copy of the Telegraph to challenge other men
on their behaviour) I can’t help but feel cheated.
Yet again men’s views are privileged above women’s safety
and autonomy. That same privilege that comes into play when a man decides his
desire to touch a woman comes before her permission. Your feelings are
hurt? Your FEELINGS are hurt. Fine. That
doesn’t make your beliefs correct. This isn’t Dawson’s Creek. This is the real
world. And I have a life time of research called ‘Being a Woman on Public
Transport’ to support my ideas.
So I’m sorry if the idea that women want to be safe from the
daily barrage of crap you throw at us is hurtful. It seems so many of you are
moved to tweet, maybe whilst on public transport, maybe whilst ignoring the
awkwardness of a woman being harassed three seats down.
I am tired of pretending to be on the phone, pretending to
know other women on public transport to defuse harassment situations and most
of all I am tired of pretending to care about your feelings. Close your legs, get your hand off my thigh, log off twitter
and shut up.
