Not Nice Outside

Found this site via feministing. Thought you all might appreciate it.

My morning was ruined by a public masturbator on the Red Line!

My morning (it was a gorgeous morning too) was ruined today by a public masturbator on the Red Line train. He got on around Thorndale, sat toward the back of the train facing me, before moving to the seat diagonally across from me. He was a tall black man who wore sungalsses, a beige baseball hat, black t-shirt, and shorts. Listing blissfully to Mika on my ipod, I didn't really pay attention to him, even though his movement struck me as strangely stealthy.

A stop later, I glanced casually over to my left and realized that he was furiously jerking off! Feeling disgusted and angry with his behavior and for attempting to get off through my discomfort, shock or fear, I decided to not pay attention to him at all and give him the satisfaction of getting a reaction from me. He kept wanking off as we passed Granville, Loyola, and Morse. I didn't want to get up and press the stop button on the train because I knew that as soon as the doors opened, he would have just bolted out of the car (this happened to my friend), but I didn't really want to confront him either. I sat there looking out my right throught the window while keeping him out of the corner of my left eye, just in case he wanted to try something funny (which would have led to me kicking his ass).

Finally, he put his penis away and got off at Jarvis, avoiding the possibility of getting arrested at Howard when I would have called the police on his sorry ass.

Looking back, I should have whipped out my cell phone and took a picture of him (too bad he was careful to wear his sunglasses) so that I could have posted his picture on the web for the world to see. A girl did that on a NYC subway train and the NY Post put his picture up on their front page, which led to his eventual arrest. I probably should have also said something to him in order to let him know that this type of behavior would NOT be tolerated by women in general. I should have said "Sir, put your PENIS back in your pants! Or I will have you arrested!" I am now practicing this in case I bump into another pervert.

It's important to realize that resisting these public offenders is essential because indecent exposure usually degenerates into other acts of sexual assault. If you look at the rap sheets of many rapists, they usually have prior offenses such as being a peeping tom, breaking and entering, or public exposure. Who knows if this pervert I met on the train decides that next time it would be acceptable for him to sit down next to a woman and masturbate, and then even try to touch her or assault her?

And in case someone out there thinks that this type of behavior is harmless, imagine if it happened to your mom or your sister? It would not be funny if they were distressed by this type of encounter.

The next time I will be more prepared. I am now ordering pepper spray online and practicing talking loudly for the next time some weirdo decides to use me to fuel his sick fantasies!

~Submitted by Jennifer

"Hollering at me out of your car does not make me want to have sex with you!"

I was crossing the street - not a busy street - mid afternoon on a cold winter day. I looked both ways before crossing and nobody was coming, so obviously, I started to cross it. I get halfway across the street and a car stops a good foot from hitting me, and yells at me "Get out of the street, you whore!" I yelled back "Drive a little slower next time asshole!" Though I'm sure he didnt hear any of that judging by how fast he drove off (equally as fast as he did almost running me over). I understood why he said that you know, because prostitutes normally wear winter jackets and scarfs, and crossing the street is somehow my fault.

By the way - for any Facebook users, my friend created a group last year called "Hollering at me out of your car does not make me want to have sex with you."

~Submitted by Gwendolynn

Young Women's Action Team

I don't want this blog to only be stories of violence and victimization. Women (and men) resist violence and harassment every day. I hope that this blog contributes to that resistance.

I was just made aware of an event on May 22 at Loyola University. The Young Women's Action Team is sponsoring a forum that addresses street harassment and violence against women. It is from 5 to 7. For more info shoot an e-mail to: rpywat@hotmail.com

Also check out the Young Women's Action Team website. They do great work!

Violence on the CTA

One of my classmates was attacked on the CTA #8 bus yesterday afternoon. Another classmate shared her story with us. Normally I choose not to speak for anyone but since she is still in shock and has not left the police office, I am going to share her horrific story.

Around 4:30 yesterday afternoon Jasmine (name changed) boarded the #8 bus to DePaul for her evening class. She sat in an inside seat by the window near the back and pulled out a magazine for the long ride. Before long a man sat down next to her. He began arguing with a woman in the aisle of the bus. Engaged in her magazine, Jasmine didn't notice until the argument escalated. Feeling threatened, she tried to get out of her seat by gesturing to the man that she needed to get off. This only focused his attention in on her.

I am not sure exactly how their exchange turned violent but he let her out of the seat and punched her in the face. When she fell over, he grabbed her by the leg and started dragging her down the aisle of the bus. By this point she and many passengers were screaming at the bus driver to stop and help out. The bus driver did nothing. He just proceeded on to the next stop while several passengers called the police. The man who attacked Jasmine escaped at the next stop, while the bus driver, again, did nothing. A few people chased him off of the bus in an attempt to restrain him until the police arrived. He managed to hop on an "L" train before anyone could catch him.

Jasmine has spent the past 24 hours dealing with police and recovering from her injuries and the general humiliation of being dragged through a crowd of people.

Again, this is my telling of her story and I hope that when she is feeling better she will tell it herself. Something is seriously wrong when CTA staff and passengers are so desensitized to violence and harassment something like this could happen and the perpetrator could escape! People should not be subject to violence during their commutes. It is just that simple.