How do you stop sexual assault and sexual harassment on public transit so women feel safe to use it after hours. I genuinely dont know but would like to learn.
I've been trying to be more aware of this. When a woman came to my tiny bus stop several days ago, I and every man on the street downtown, old and young , was staring at her. I stopped upon realizing that grimy strangers staring made her at once probably made her uncomfortable.
A friend of mine told me BART was too unsafe to ride at night after instances of aggressive catcalling. My young sister complained of harassment on the bus that resulted in her getting a car. I can't think of a non-police solution to this problem but cops dont do anything anyways
I know sexual harassment is rampant in the public square. When working at a Walgreens in downtown, my pregnant co-worker and I would hold down the cashier and I was pretty stunned at the amount of men who regularly made sexual comments at her. Got in a fight because of one.
Men stepping up is good. Personally I have twice, and have gotten into a fight or almost a fight for having done so. Personally I weigh whether its worth throwing hands for someone I dont know, and if comments, however cruel, should just be ignored https://twitter.com/lareinadelsarah/status/1289444478462201856?s=20
The only solution i can think of is having more of those unarmed BART Ambassadors (not police) who just roam the system to discourage crime of opportunity by being visible in stations and on trains.
Crimes are usually crimes of opportunity. The presence of people discourages them. I do like the unarmed de escalation alternative to cops i pushed for my local system (so far). But i'd prefer more systemic preventative solutions transit systems can use
Also if you're on an empty train and sit beside anyone, let alone a woman and you're a man, you're whack af.

Not even simping. Nobody wants to be beside your ass on an empty train.
So I think the answer is more ridership. What the unarmed ambassadors essentially do is fill up the trains. Because BART's ridership andf AC Transit's ridership is so commute heavy, off-peak the empty cars and buses encourage attacks and unwarranted comments.
Its why it's crucial that American transit systems be designed for use throughout the day (more stops, wider city accessibility not just regional accessibility) and not just be commuter systems where people only have others on board during morning and evening rush hours.
The other more systemic solution would be reforming sexual education so that affirmative consent is better explained to children starting in Elementary rather than just sexual health advice.

But of course a transit system cant do that other than give automated announcements.
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