Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Get a Grip: the MTA's Anti-Groping Campaign
Holla Back NYC is the one place I’ve found that gives victims of harassment not just a voice, but a course of action through which to channel their rage and feelings of impotent despair over a society that neither values nor protects human rights.
Ok, sorry for the volley. Lemme back up. Normally I gag when I hear the words “raise awareness.” But I have strong feelings about the MTA’s canceled campaign to raise harassment awareness, and think that it’s a proper balance to my “I Heart the Subway” post. In brief:
Last year the MTA did a study to see how bad icky people were harassing women. Their own study “found 63% of respondents have been sexually harassed and 10% reported having been sexually assaulted in the subway system.” MTA knows this but decided that their own ad campaign against the subject was “too pervy.” The argument the MTA makes is that these ads will actually lead to more groping.
There is no study indicating that would be the case. Reporting crimes doesn’t indicate a rise in crimes. It indicates a rise in reported crimes. The NYPost makes this smart distinction (though I would have too — just like “best selling author” only means most books sold, definitely not best-written).
The MTA has discomfort over their own posters, ones that reveal how uncomfortable and sick those little public groping sessions are. And it’s true, that is a very uncomfortable thing. But it’s the MTA’s domain, and they can’t be more squeamish than the folks who ride their trains. They can’t pretend something isn’t a huge problem when they know full well it is.
According to Douglas Sussman, Director of Community Affairs, “the MTA is reconsidering the posting of these ads and we should have some announcement on this matter very soon. If I can be of assistance on any other matter, I can be reached at ”
Holla Back NYC is asking people to email him, let him know where they stand on this squeamishness. I wrote Doug a nice note. I invite you to help make the world a better place, one dark dirty tubehole at a time.
(I’m really interested to hear what anyone in Boston has to say on this, I just don’t have as much of their info in my brain, so I apologize for the “NYC as center of the universe” tone.)
A few weeks ago someone killed themselves by jumping onto the tracks of the F train. I only know this because Mike got stuck on that train and told me. We never saw anything about it in the news. Going by the news, I’d guestimate subway suicides have only happened like once in the past five years. The reasons for are pretty obvious. This silenced anti-groping campaign smells like the same thing to me. I’ve never reported my incidents. I have no idea how regularly it happens. But if we have a campaign showing that the system is rife with sickos and perverts, wouldn’t that change things, raise awareness? The only thing the MTA wants to change and raise is their prices (booyah!).
Heavens to Mergatroid! What if that ashamed and sickened woman feels less alone after she’s been a victim, feels like it’s not she who failed by having the nerve to EXIST without a male bodyguard… but that a service she pays for, in public, has the responsibility to prevent one patron from doing to harm another. She’ll report it. Maybe they’ll get the guy!
If this were a restaurant, and a person got groped waiting in line for the bathroom, wouldn’t the management be railed against for not immediately calling the cops, arresting the jerk, and keeping a better lookout?
Yeah, I have a lot of rage. And sure… yes, I’ve been groped and felt up and all that jazz on the subway. Who do I fear on the train? Not the drunk asleep in his poop. Not the guy actually dripping blood (I couldn’t tell if it was his blood or if he was fresh from a nice vigorous stabbing). Those guys are just riding the train. I fear the one who decides he’s going to pet me because he can. The touch that is not accidental, but pervy. And I think about breaking his fingers.
Ok, I don’t actually fear them, I fear committing a felony that might mess up my eligibility for student loans. Why should I fear them? They fear nothing. They certainly don’t get in any trouble. It’s harder to find someone who looks more proud and happy with themselves.
Lots. Lots of rage. It’s true. Wanna make sumpthin’ of it? I do.
But how do you feel? What do you think about this? Also, if you are feeling brave and perhaps have the next couple Fridays off, contact me. I and a friend are working on something that could be illuminating…
[update] This just found via BuzzFeed: Camera phones in Japan all have alert sounds so perverts can’t take up-skirt photos. Shockingly I feel like these posters would give people in NYC ideas, or like they’re more a warning about what women should look out for. Why am I thinking like that after my strong impression that the MTA posters wouldn’t inspire nasty minds? Because it’s cartoon people in the Japanese poster maybe? I honestly don’t know. Design? Lack of wording?
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