Have you ever been harassed on public transport in London because of your gender identity?

[MsTiggywinkletoyou]

I came across this survey, by a "male to female transgender design student", "conducting research into gender non conformity on public transport in London". No date, but the Survey Monkey link is still live. "My research group and I would really appreciate it if you could share your experiences with us." Nowhere does it define "gender identity" or ask what your [i.e. whoever will be filling it in] gender identity is. Pretty piss-poor research design if you ask me, which clearly they didn't. It struck me, however, that I have indeed been harassed on buses and the Tube because I am a woman, and other people correctly identify this. I have also had the temerity to flaunt my gender non-conformity, by getting onto public transport with short hair and no make-up. Four quick questions here: www.surveymonkey.com/r/5VWH5H2

It doesn't really make any sense does it? Done purely to waste your time.

I was harassed quite a number of times because of my sex on London transport when I lived in London. Blokes think they can say anything they like to women and could get rather unpleasant if I didn't respond as they wanted me to.

I’ve been harassed on public transport a number of times purely because the men were able to observe I am a woman.

no, but I have been harrassed on the tube because of my sex.
have reported it to transport police, as should anyone who is a victimof crime on tube or other public transport.

Yes. Lots. My experience of harassment and crime at the hands of men has been that my clothing & hairstyle choices have had very little effect. Most humans are able to accurately sex other humans most of the time.

I've been harasses on public transport because of my gender. The fact it aligns with my sex is neither here nor there.
I was harassed because I presented as female.

I got into a discussion with a TW on a friend's FB page recently about harassment: she said that the first time it happened to her she thought it was transphobia and that she was going to 'get her head kicked in' but a woman friend and explained that those who 'present as women' whether trans or not deal with this shit every damn day. It was an eye opener I think.

I would have made a sarky comment about the students most likely being male and clueless about how much harassment and worse is experienced by women on a dai
y basis. But these days the students are just as likely to be female and suffering extreme cognitive dissonance.

On the tube
Harassed to the point of being uncomfortable / concerned for my safety: lost count, probably around 10/15 times
Groped: 1 time
Followed off the tube: 3 times (1 ending in the grope)
Incidents when pregnant: 2 times (nice that eh?)

Given I don't commute much by public transport anymore, it's pretty shit.

I'm not very stereotypically feminine at all, if that's what gender identity means.

I was harassed because of my biological sex.

I laughed at their last question... about whether it makes you alter your plans / travel times etc. Oh no! Biological women never have to concern themselves with that. We just waltz around whenever and wherever we like.

No, but I've been harassed on public transport all over the world because of my sex

I used to commute using public transport every day (not in London). On a crowded train I can pretty much say that there was a 'wandering' hand almost every day. 1 hand up my skirt. Several 'brushes past my boobs. None because of the way I identified, because I mostly identified as fucked off with having to be on the same train as these assholes.

I can absolutely believe that some people suffer genuine transphobic attacks due to being non-passing trans, and this is terrible. (There's a transwoman I see on the bus who clearly does not pass, and is disabled as well, and I dread to think the amount of harrassment they get). Any sort of harrassment for being "visibly different", be it disablist, racist, transphobic, homophobic, is absolutely fucking appalling.

But yes to PP's experiences - I have spent my life from puberty onwards facing harrassment and the ever-present threat of sexual assault because of my sex. Starting from the day a guy groped me on the escalator while I was on a school trip.

Haven't been harassed but witnessed harassment - by drunk/high Rastafarian (or should I say dreadlocked cause presumably a true Rastafarian would be too peace and love to harass someone) of a nice looking girl, he was backing her into a corner (we were all standing) and making kissy lips towards her, can't remember what he said.

Another passenger (maybe train line technician, wearing high visibility work intervened.

• high visibility work-wear

Have been harassed elsewhere (US) in train station though due to being a young woman.

I did the survey to piss them off with my 'female sex' more than for anything else. So badly designed, what use will it be?

Does being asked whether I was a lesbian by random strangers on a bus (who had been agreeing among themselves I didn't look like I care very much about performing femininity) count for group of gender identity (or lack thereof)?

I have been harrassed because of my sex.
I present quite androgynous (short hair, had been at football so was wearing a football shirt and jeans).
Some bloke kept hassling me until I was able to move up the tube train and get some police officers between us.
Not sure that is the kind of response they are looking for though.

Actually not so bad in London but was often rubbed up against on buses in Rome, I was only in my early twenties then, it happened to my mum too. I was more upset when it happened to my mum when we were together. Lots of verbal abuse though in the UK.

I can absolutely believe that some people suffer genuine transphobic attacks due to being non-passing trans, and this is terrible. (There's a transwoman I see on the bus who clearly does not pass, and is disabled as well, and I dread to think the amount of harrassment they get). Any sort of harrassment for being "visibly different", be it disablist, racist, transphobic, homophobic, is absolutely fucking appalling.

agree wholeheartedly with the above.

However it is extremely dangerous to perpetuate the myth that it is gender presentation that is the reason for sexual harassment. it erases the means by which we talk about the problem of SEXual harassment. and if we can't define it then our chances of solving the problem are diminished. The transwomen in PP story likely was on the receiving end of either homophobic, transphobic, or if they genuinely passed, sexist abuse.

It is extremely offensive to the huge numbers of women around the world who suffer abuse at the hands of men, on transport systems or elsewhere, to peddle the myth that it was because of their gender presentation. gender presentation changes from place to place and across time. sadly sexual abuse of women is woven into our histories and our societies.

women are harassed and attacked because of the body parts specific to them and because attackers know they are unlikely to be able to fight back, because of the difference in size and strength between males and females.

gender comes into it but not in the form of whether a woman chooses to wear a dress or a tracksuit or how short their hair is FFS. female socialisation to be nice and polite, fear of speaking up and making a fuss, reluctance to report because last time you weren't believed or because you've just read in the papers that a judge said it couldn't be rape because the victim had consented to sex on a different occasion/ didn't scream/ wore a thong etc etc etc.

I have never been harassed on public transport because of my gender identity. That is because, much like my eternal soul, it does not exist.

also like PP i was so surprised to find i experienced much more harassment and crap when pregnant. back to the levels of my late teens. was horrible.

WTF has this to do with graphic design? I pity this kids lecturers.

I don't have a gender identity so not sure why I've been sexually assaulted on public transport. Could it possibly have something to do with my sex?

I didn't report what happened, I was ashamed and embarrassed and felt like the police wouldn't help. I still feel ashamed about the assault but also feel ashamed that I didn't report it. It happened on a bus, there would have been cctv. I'm sure the man who assaulted me will have gone on to do the same to other women as well. I just hope that his crimes didn't escalate.

I doubt it - since how would anyone know if I did or did not possess a gender identity, or what it was if I did.

Because of my sex though, sure!

As to this presentation thing, how I 'present' will not make a darn bit of difference. If you shaved DP and my heads and dressed us in dustbin sacks, it would still be completely obvious which one of us was male, and which female.

I've seen people harassed because of their fashion choices - not quite the same thing though

While I agree this isn't the most well thought out questionnaire, I do find this whole thread quite distasteful.

We all know what "gender non conforming means" this isn't about sexual harassment of women on the tube.

You know how we tell TRA and MRAs that if they have a problem with something they should fix it and not expect women to do it for them?

That's clearly what this person is doing here.

Being groped because you are a woman is different to being beaten up because you're a man in lipstick, or a butch lesbian who has made no effort to look "hawt" for the men around her. I imagine this will be part of some project where he designs the trains to be safer for people like him, or as part of a poster campaign he designs about harassment. It's not hard to imagine what it could be about, but it never mentions sexual harassment. Some women will suffer sexual harassment AND harassment due to gender non conformity.

My main problem with it is what constitutes gender non-conformity. I don't wear makeup and dresses or make an "effort" the way women are meant to, but that many middle aged women start doing. I suppose I am gender non conforming in that sense and I have had abuse for not being pretty enough. Would that count?

HIghjacking this to talk about women is whatabouttery. It gives the TRAs who follow this board ammunition.