How Women React To Molestation On Public Transit

Posted by: Abhijeet Chavan
Thanks to: C. P. Zilliacus

4 July 2006 - 7:00am

Writer and professor Deborah Tannen compares the experiences of American women who were molested on public transit with those of Greek women who are markedly less tolerant of such behavior.

"I was 15 and in my first year at Hunter College High School. Taking my usual route to school, I was riding a crowded express train to Manhattan from Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn...That was the last time I took an express train to school. Instead I added a half-hour to my commute in order to catch the local, get a seat and keep it all the way to Manhattan. And forever after, I got a queasy feeling when the doors opened at the Prospect Park station. I think I expected that man to get back on.

"I spent eight months doing research in Athens, so I decided to record Greek women recounting narratives I could compare to the New Yorkers'. Since most of the subway stories were actually molesting stories, I asked Greek women if they'd ever been molested."

"The experiences the Greek women described were similar to those I'd heard from Americans. But there was a difference..."

Full Story: Moving Violations

Source: The New York Times, July 2, 2006