Monthly Archives: January 2014

Yet Another Uniform Creep

I was on my way to school on a bus heading to white rock. As I was about to get off, I tripped over a mans foot and then stood in place. Before got off he looked up my uniform skirt and touched my butt with his hand and squeezed it. I called the police but it has been 2 months and they haven’t done much.

Denim the Menace and the Gropey Gus

I have had the misfortune of being targeted more than once on public transit.  The first time, I was 21 years old sitting in a single seat on my way back from work with my arms full of packages and staring out the window.  I didn’t notice the person sitting in the single seat behind me until I saw is hairy hand groping my left breast.  I yelled and the bus stopped and the man got up and let the bus.  I was so upset that I couldn’t speak coherently to say what the matter was.  A woman consoled me and encouraged me to talk to the driver, which I did.  He gave me the number of the complaints department.

On the way back from UBC in the summer time, a man got on the bus and sat opposite me at the rear of the bus.  He pulled up the leg of his denim shorts, which he had altered for easier access, and began to masturbate.  I moved to the front of the bus and went to the driver.  Again, the bus was stopped and the man got away.

I have also been rubbed up against on more than 1 occasion.

I am now 42 years old.  I live near VGH and work downtown.  I never take transit to work.  I work evenings and dread coming home late on public transit.  I would rather walk or drive than be sexually harassed again.  I should say, that my history prior to these incidents is one of severe sexual abuse and I felt that I was targeted because I was sending out some kind of a signal to these offenders.  I have had many years of counselling and am at a good place in my life with this but I still avoid transit specifically.  My heightened instincts for “bad people” is on high alert when I take the bus or skytrain.  I can see them better than they can see me now and they are everywhere.

Thank you so much for doing this work.  It is LONG overdue!

Fiendish Filmographer

I got video taped at around 9.30am Sunday morning 5th of January at commercial Broadway sky train station.  This guy was clearly video taping me while I was waiting for a friend.  I realised this only when I moved and so did he with his phone in his right hand in his outstretched arm. He is tall, dark/tanned skin of Philippines/vietnamese descent.  He followed me again today this time I was in the train and he outside on the waterfront platform. I thought all women should be aware of this creep.
As for his phone it was red/maroon in colour. He wore a black Tuque, jeans and a black jacket with a zipper.o
Totally scared and being vigilant now. Im checking to see if I am being followed. This is not how I want to feel.

Gateway Station Assault

Transit Police are requesting help in identifying the perpetrator of a sexual assault that occurred at Gateway Station on the 6th of September, 2013. The victim was a young woman on student exchange from Japan, which illustrates the reality that International students are disproportionately victimized by the jerks who think they can get away with it. If you have any information on this man (described in the video as a white male, late 50’s, 6′ tall, 170 lbs., balding – short hair, clean shaven, wearing beige pants, possible green shirt, brown jacket, brown shoes and carrying a brief case) please contact the Transit Police at 604-515-8300 or text via 87-77-77.

Wave of Discomfort (20/F)

This happened to me today as I was heading home on the Expo line, around 2 pm.  I got on the skytrain (the old red, blue, white ones) at Commercial station and sat in one of the single seats right by the doors.  At Nanaimo I believe, an older man (East Indian, perhaps?) got on and sat on the outer seat of the double seats right next to me so that my right side was facing him.  Right after I boarded I had put my headphones in and simply stared out the door windows as the train made its way.
It wasn’t until after we left Edmonds that I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye.  Without thinking twice I turned my head a mere centimeter just so I could see what it was.  Now this is the part where I got so shocked I’m still trying to remember if I saw things correctly.  The man I mentioned earlier had his penis out in broad daylight and was waving it around in his hand!  I’m so sorry for the graphic detail but I’m 99% sure that is what I saw.  It took me a millisecond to process what was going on and I instantly averted my eyes, keeping my face as neutral as possible.  I don’t know if he saw me but I didn’t dare to look again .  I scanned the rest of the cart to see if anyone else had noticed but unfortunately the cart was less than half full and people were spread out.  I couldn’t bring myself to look again to make sure that was indeed what I saw but I was so uncomfortable that I got off at 22nd station and waited for the next train.  There was a skytrain attendant on the platform but I was a bit traumatized so I didn’t approach her and tell her what happened, although I really should have, looking back now.
Now I have been down to Wreck Beach before so I’ve seen my fair share of strangers’ genitalia in public.  But this, this was just completely and utterly obscene.  WHY would anyone do that on the skytrain in the middle of the day?  The most surprising thing was that no one else noticed but me!  And since this was the old model there weren’t even security cameras on board.  As a 20 year old female student who has to commute everyday to and from school I don’t want to have to worry every time a male sits near or next to me that they might repeat what this man did!

Northern Exposure (31/f)

This morning (Dec 30,2013) at approximately 7:30am I was riding on the Expo Line East bound and at around 29th Avenue a younger guy maybe around 20 sat across and over from me. I didn’t pay too much attention until I saw him out of the corner of my eye staring and winking/smiling at me all the while with “member” fully exposed. He continued to try to get my attention while touching himself. I stood up and said something like what was his problem and hit the safety strip and also went on the speaker for assistance. Skytrain security was there at the next stop but he was too quick and took off. I take the train every day and I was seriously freaked out. Unfortunately not many people were riding today. I think there should be more visible cameras on the trains. I cant even remember what he looked like, I was so caught off guard and kind of panicked to get away.
I am 31, Female, Caucasian.

I Don’t Know About You (But I Don’t Much Like the 22)

It was just this Sunday afternoon, in the middle of the day that I was aboard the 22 MacDonald heading to a yoga class downtown. I moved to the back of the bus after a big group of elderly people got on the bus and I was seated in the very back row, not quite in the centre. A guy sat next to me, in the centre and immediately started to stare at me and then make conversation with me. Being polite, I respond back to him but stay guarded. He’s asking me questions about my yoga mat and telling me about the time that he did yoga in a hospital. I can see an older women sitting on the other side of him looking on and I can feel and see her anxiety for me on her face.
Eventually, the guy asks me if I “take everything off’ when I do yoga to which I angrily reply, no I keep my clothes on. Then I put my headphones in, the guy on the other side of me gets off and I slide one seat over to put space between myself and the creep — but for naught. He taps me on the shoulder and then asks me if I want to go to a movie with him, and I tell him “no, sorry I have a boyfriend” (like I a) should have to tell him that I’m sorry and b) should have to legitimize my no with the fact that I have a boyfriend).  The creep continues to stare at me, and then slides over next to me, boxing me in between the window and himself and being too close for comfort. When someone takes the centre seat in the back row, he uses this as an excuse to slide even closer to me and violating my personal space, all the while staring at me and then starting to touch his crotch. I was paralyzed by fear and actually shaking by this point, anxious for my stop to arrive. The older woman gets off and she looks behind to give me a lingering look — I can feel how worried she is for me, and I am worried myself. I’ve had a lot of weird experiences in my life, in various cities as well as on Translink, but this one was different and terrifying.
When we get into downtown I start arranging my things and the creep asks me if I’m getting off soon. He sits even closer and I ask him to please move over because he’s making me uncomfortable. I was so fearful for how I was going to get past him when it got to my stop because of so little room, I thought he might try to grab me. I finally moved to get off the bus and put my bag and yoga mat between him and myself and shimmied out as fast as possible an went to the bus driver to tell him about this creep. That’s when I look back and notice he’s standing at the back door waiting to get off with me. I told the bus driver he’s getting off with me, and just booked it from the bus stop to my yoga studio where I arrived consumed with fear.
I have never, in my life, felt so scared for my own personal safety and been purposely made to feel so uncomfortable. I don’t know if this guy was doing it on purpose to scare me to get off or if he actually was intent on following me and hurting me. Either way, this is completely inappropriate behaviour and so very indicative of the kind of culture that we live in. We live in a culture that is complicit in rape — we stand by and watch someone be harassed and do nothing about it, and we have boys growing up to be men who believe that this behaviour is okay — that they have an entitlement to a woman’s attention and space.
The 22 is one of the worst lines I ever have to take and unfortunately I have to take it as I live off of Knight Street. On this bus, I have had a man “accidentally” grab my leg, been stared at, aggressively hit on and once witnessed a man verbally abuse his partner on the bus telling her awful things like “if you don’t suck my dick I’ll cut your throat” and nobody did a thing about it. The City of Vancouver and Translink needs to take greater responsibility on the types of inappropriate behaviour that occurs on the bus because I’ve taken transit in more crowded and very much less developed cities but I have never experienced the same degree of harassment as I have on Translink.

A Skytrain Attendant’s POV

Hello,

I have been wanting to share this for a long time, but was not sure if it was a good idea. Then I couldn’t hold it in anymore.

I am a skytrain attendant. I am also a woman.  I have followed your project on and off since I heard about it and there are a few things I would like to share.

Apart from the obvious, which is that these stories are utterly horrendous and that it takes great courage to tell them, there are some things that are not as obvious. One is that skytrain attendants are also constantly fielding sexual abuse. I remember when I started working this job many years ago… I was prepared to help other people when they pushed the alarm on the train, but I was completely unprepared for the number of times I was going to feel unsafe at work because a man threatened me, propositioned me, or worse.

Without getting into the specific comments, I have been assaulted, I have been threatened both with sexual and non-sexual violence, and I have been sexually harassed. Actually, almost every night I am at work, I am sexually harassed, and the language is usually graphic and vulgar. The worst part is that it happens to all the female staff. And you can’t really stand up for yourself because you’re in uniform and to tell the person to piss off could provoke an assault, which you could get in trouble for. So you just have to stand there and let it happen. Or you can walk away, but then you could get in trouble for not being visible.

The other thing I want these women (and men) to know is that skytrain attendants are not security personnel. If someone pushes the alarm on the train, there is one attendant at every station and we will come to help, but we are not armed, we are not allowed to physically remove anyone from the train, we are not allowed to prevent people from boarding. Our job is to answer questions, give directions, drive trains and liaise with transit police. Many nights working alone in our stations, we are as afraid as you are.

I understand that not everyone likes the transit police, but most of them do a fantastic job. They have launched several campaigns against sexual harassment/assault, they have launched the app and the text line. They are trying very hard to make it clear to people that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable. Many times when people get the courage to report something, the transit police will push the issue with the court, but often, their hands are tied because of the legal system. I have a huge amount of respect for them and they make our system and my job safer. As a police force, this is an issue of great importance to them and they are working on ways to stop sexual assault/harassment.

If this is posted, I don’t want people to read it and think, “Oh, there’s no point in pushing the alarm if I am sexually harassed/assaulted” because every time I have personally responded to these alarms, I have not brushed it off by saying, “Oh well, he left the station.” I have called the transit police and they have shown up and taken it seriously too. The more we share our stories, the more people will see how common this is, the more people will take a stand against it, and the less acceptable it will become.