Creeps in public places

[Lamaha]

This is a twitter thread by a passenger who was able to intervene when a young girl, separated form her family on the plane, was harassed by a much older man. Luckily it ended well but it just shows they are everywhere, and proof of how much we DO need private spaces.

twitter.com/joannachiu/status/1110079640998023168

Thanks OP.

Just read the whole thing and then got to the replies.

Second response in, poor man whining about how hard done by the other men on the flight were, by mere dint of her posts that they hadn't intervened also. That is what he took from the thread? THAT?!

(Thankfully some other male respondents with a bit more class than this fool)

I wouldn't see this particular case as being part of the case for 'separate spaces', more as a need for zero tolerance of unacceptable behaviour.

In this situation, if a man hadn't wanted to directly intervene, he could have alerted the cabin crew, so there's no excuse for passivity.

Well done to that woman. My mother was on an almost empty bus and saw a man sit beside a teenage girl and creep on her. She immediately got up and told the girl to sit beside her instead and bollocked him.

Sad to say, this kind of situation is why as a teenager I decided I needed to travel alone, so if I got into a situation I wouldn’t be expecting anyone to help me.

One of the important life lessons we can teach our daughters is to get up and move if someone is behaving in a way that makes us uncomfortable. Too often we sit politely rather than wanting to appear rude.

We need to give our daughters loud voices and the belief they can get up and walk away from situations.

These creeps rely on female "be nice" socialisation.

One of the important life lessons we can teach our daughters is to get up and move if someone is behaving in a way that makes us uncomfortable. Too often we sit politely rather than wanting to appear rude.

We need to give our daughters loud voices and the belief they can get up and walk away from situations.

These creeps rely on female "be nice" socialisation.

^^this. NOT telling our daughters that their boundaries aren't their own.

Are you advocating single sex flights?
Bravo to that woman who intervened.
I'm not entirely sure I agree that women are more likely to intervene. Maybe, but I have witnessed men intervene probably as many times as women, although I am aware my personal sample size is small.

I wouldn't be too quick to applaud that journalist - she is in favour of males identifying into women's refuges and published an article on the "transphobia" of Vancouver Rape Relief. Another one suffering from cognitive dissonance.

When I was assaulted on public transport by a complete stranger, the men sitting opposite us pretended they hadn't noticed. A young woman from down the carriage intervened

.. although I am aware my personal sample size is small

Well, that's one way of putting it.

Well, that's one way of putting it.

Of course the same could be said for the original twitter post...

Really, who wants to take a truly representative sample of men’s and women’s reactions to women and girls being sexually harrassed? Not me.

Are you advocating single sex flights?

Of course not. It's just a general observation for those who think it's OK to mix men with women and girls. Because it never happens.
And be vigilant, step in when something like this happens. The one doesn't rule out the other.

Sadly female socialisation (don't make a scene, hope it goes away, it's just not happening) can mean freeze (rather than fight or flight) is the default option. Looking back over all my #metoo moments - I've realised I always freeze. As a child, I never received any training or instruction on what to do and even now I've never developed my own resources on how to deal.

Here's a fuller story than just the tweets:
www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-monday-edition-1.5070285/women-passengers-rally-to-protect-teenage-girl-from-airplane-creep-1.5070590

One part stood out for me:
when we deplaned, a security official was waiting for him and took him aside. [...] On the plane, when he was being confronted by a bunch of women [passengers and cabin crew], he was, like, really dismissive, angry, like trying to aggressively shut us down. But, you know, when the [presumably male] security guard was talking to him, he looked really nervous.

And another version, with the intention of provoking a public conversation about what witnesses can do:
www.thestar.com/life/opinion/2019/03/25/how-my-tweets-about-harassment-sparked-a-conversation-about-what-bystanders-can-do.html