CTA Tattler

RYWAT absolutely rocks. Their events are incredible and empowering and educational. I highly recommend that anybody who can attend this discussion! (I'm unaffiliated with them; I've just gone to their other events on street harassment.)

I had no idea this group existed. I'm so excited! After being featured on this Web site as well as in the Red Eye for having a guy masturbate in front of me on the train as well as after having a guy "subtly" rub himself while looking at me just this last weekend, I want to get involved and stop this bullshit.

Thanks for the info, Kevin!

Have to apologize for not knowing this stuff happens on the train. Well, not that I didn't know pervs were around, but not to the extent of rubbing, groping, etc. Maybe I'm to blase to notice, but I hope these women are yelling at these jerks and causing a commontion and bringing attention to them when it's actually happening. Don't have a daughter or wife, but if this happened to them, I'd castrate him by putting his male appending on the third rail.

Efforts to reduce crime are certainly laudable, but is there any reason to believe that the frequency of sexual assaults on the CTA is unusually high compared to the rest of the city?

The Everyblock website indicates that in the last 12 months there have been over 1200 sexual assaults citywide. Given the millions of rides that occur on the CTA in a year, it's likely that just about every type of crime also occurs on the CTA with some frequency.

By comparison, the website also indicates that there were 26 sexual assaults in the 42nd Ward. While that's not good, it's not a reason to believe that the 42nd Ward (which includes the Loop and River North, among other places) is experiencing some kind of wave of sex crimes.

This isn't to say that people shouldn't be concerned, but I'm not sure that these statistics show that there ought to be any special alarm about this sort of crime on the CTA.

Most of these "crimes" are actually never reported. I myself have been sexually groped on the CTA at least three times in the past 6 years. I have friends who have experienced similar "crimes." I never reported the incidents because to be honest I felt that it would not be taken seriously by law enforcement. This is a very real issue.

It may be a serious issue but it is something that is probably less likely to occur on the CTA than almost anywhere else. Considering how extensive the system is, one crime a week is extreamly small. Yes, probably most are unreported but it does still give you a sense of how many occur.

(Just in the unlikely event that anyone cares, I am the regular poster "MK" and the previous one is someone different. I can't complain about someone taking my name. But just in the event that someone is confused into thinking these posts were made by the same person.)

MK said: "It's less likely to occur on the CTA..." If you mean a physical sexual assualt is less likely occur on the CTA, perhaps you are right. But what I've seen here in comments from women is that's not the big problem. The big problem are the jerks who expose themselves or rub against women.

Oh boy, here we go again..

Who gives a crap how many occur? We should do nothing because it's not as frequent a crime as you would like? I honestly don't understand this mindset. Sexual assault and harassment is an important issue, and if you don't think so, I'm afraid you might be a male who needs to open his eyes and ears and start talking to his female friends about what they've experienced over their lifetimes. I'm honestly disgusted and horrified anyone would even bring this up, as if it's relevant how many occur. How about we do something to stop it anyway? It's horrifying for the people it happens to.

And any time this issue is brought up, it's "oh it's not that bad." I'm sick and tired of men dismissing important feminist issues because it's not important to them. Well, it's important to ME. If you don't care, you don't have to comment and you can continue to do nothing about it. But please don't dismiss other people's valid concerns about their safety and emotional well-being.

I'm glad that the issue is getting some attention, as I think many people are completely unaware that it happens. Until I began reading this board with even light regularity, I didn't know much about it. Others, who have been victims, will know how to react when or if it happens. If something that comes from this group's efforts gets even one person to stop this type of behavior, it will save any number of victims the potential trauma and stress. I applaud this group and I'm glad it was posted.

"And any time this issue is brought up, it's "oh it's not that bad." I'm sick and tired of men dismissing important feminist issues because it's not important to them. "

Please don't lump all "men" into the "uncaring" category. That's not fair. I'm the guy that wrote the third post and apologized for not being aware that this is happening and I'm sure that there are MANY more men who feel the same way. I mean, it's not that easy to spot a grope on a packed train, and if the woman says nothing, how can any man who is concerned help her out if she needs it?

Sara:

Who are you talking to? Nobody on this thread said anything about this "not being that bad" or dismissed anyone's concerns. Two people (Beans and myself, the second MK) simply pointed out that they are likely not frequent occurancies on the CTA. And both of us specifically said that this did not mean that it was not a concernable or serious issue. I'm not sure what your complaint is.

One of my friends experienced a guy going out of his way to stand too close, if you know what I mean. In any case, she was upset that none of the men around her helped or said anything. My response was "what makes you think they were even aware? it was a crowded bus and people stand next to other people all the time."

Ladies, on a crowded bus/train, unless the gentleman standing next to you is ALSO staring at your ass, he would not notice creepy man rubbing up against you. Please, say something, make some kind of noise, eye contact, ANYTHING. We can't help if you just sit there sending out ESP messages.

Yeah, don't lump us all together. I have a girlfriend, mom and sister, all who've had bad experiences. I would probably go to jail if I got my hands on anyone who groped/harrassed someone I care about, or even a stranger. We, as a society, need to fight back against this behavior with a vengeance. I dream that in situations like this, good samaritans would grab the offender, drag him to the door, and literally kick him off the train. He would hopefully then fly through the air and land hard, breaking several bones. Later in life, the offender would suffer crippling arthritis.

I think this type of behavior is more prevalent on the CTA than other places in the city. It gives vagrants and perverts literally captive audiences and victims. Especially at night I've seen countless women have to endure harassing behavior. Sometimes its smelly homeless who try to grope other times I've seen packs of teenagers drunk or on drugs saying suggestive and perverse things to couples trying to ride the train. The CTA is a cross-section of the majority of good decent people and the small yet sick minority of those who enjoy victimizing them.

Maybe some of you who think its no more frequent on trains haven't ridden the red line south after midnight. Its too often a free for all.

I think the answer is more undercover police. I know manpower is an issue but even the threat that an officer might be present would deter some of this.

Sara, your comment is nonsensical. Of course the relative frequency of crimes in different locations should guide where our crime-fighting efforts are devoted. (No one suggested doing "nothing," so that's a straw man.)

Also, here's a little dose of reality: The rate of sexual assault, like any other significant category of crime, will never be "zero." That's about as realistic as trying to reduce air pollution to zero. You could devote infinite resources to the cause and it would never happen. So for people who really care about the issue, rather than just caring about the rhetoric of it, the important question is how to reduce sexual assault as much as possible.

How to do that is a longer discussion that's beyond the scope of this blog, but suffice it to say that any vaguely competent approach to the problem starts with understanding where it occurs more frequently and where it occurs less frequently. If you can explain how the statistics cited in the post show that sexual offenses occur more frequently on the El than elsewhere in public, I'm all ears. Otherwise, your ranting doesn't add anything of value.