Survey: 50% of CTA riders sexually harassed
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From the latest edition of the kick-ass, award-winning Loyola Phoenix student newspaper in Chicag0 (sorry, couldn’t resist the self-promo):
Fifty percent of CTA riders have been sexually harassed in transit, according to a survey done by the Young Women’s Action Team, a group of teens and young women in Rogers Park who started researching and combating street harassment in 2003.
The YWAT study cannot profile the “average” victim of sexual harassment.
“There is no discrimination when it comes to getting harassed,” said Daphnee Rene, a member of YWAT. “People expect that if you’re in a certain part of the neighborhood, it increases your chances of being harassed. But what we found out is that everybody gets harassed.”
A diverse group of more than six hundred CTA riders responded in the survey. When this story was bouncing around our news room this week, staff members (especially female staff members) shared their horror stories of harassment on Chicago’s public transit, making the 50% figure seem all-too believable.
I thought that I had it bad when I recalled one bad experience on the El that involved one particularly persistent rider getting all up in my personal space and asking probing questions about my sex life. But my colleagues even told me that they’ve seen people publicly pleasuring themselves on the El, and I personally know female friends who have been followed home by strangers upon leaving a train station.
Obviously, this is a problem so here’s my question: What is to be done? The article describes policy changes the CTA has made to help address rider harassment, but it seems far from comprehensive. For those of you around the world or living in other large metropolitan areas, how does your local transit system address sexual harassment directed toward riders? Does sexual harassment on public transit seem to be as large of a problem where you live, and can Chicago learn any lessons here?
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It’s always been a problem, Leeann, though I’ve heard fewer horror stories in New York recently than in years past. It’s ironic that you’re posting this the week the New York Times ran a story on India creating women-only cars on public transit, for just this reason. Should we resort to that solution?
Thanks for the comment, Susan. Speaking from the standpoint of a regular rider, I think a lot of fed-up women would appreciate the option of a women-only car but only when they’re riding solo. After all, I can see CTA users pitching a major fuss if they were required to separate from boyfriends and male friends when riding the train.
In theory, though, I think the solution of women-only cars misses one of the points the survey highlighted — namely that men and women alike have been victims of harassment. Women are just as capable as men of perpetrating harassment, so should we have men-only cars too? Sadly, I think the most effective solution is also the most nebulous one, in that a culture change emphasizing mutual respect needs to take place.