Toronto: Police advise girls not to wear school uniform skirts on public transit

[jimmy olsen]

Misogynistic dinosaurs.

http://news.sympatico.ca/oped/coffee-talk/police_advise_girls_not_to_wear_school_uniform_skirts_on_public_transit/d96d4450

Police advise girls not to wear school uniform skirts on public transit

11/10/2011 1:45:00 AM
by Monica Bugajski
In light of the Toronto police advising private schoolgirls not to wear their uniform skirts on public transit, it's up to us to offer some actual advice on how to deal with sexual harassment in public.

Police in Toronto are telling girls at the Greenwood College private school that in order to avoid a pervert (who harassed two female students by looking up their skirts), they shouldn't wear their school uniforms on public transit. An investigation has been launched in search of the five foot six, skinny, white male with light brown hair and black-framed glasses.

Meanwhile the school's principal, Allan Hardy, has issued an email to the student body and their parents about the incident in which he relays the investigating officer's advice that students, especially females, should consider not wearing their uniforms en route to or from school. Hardy says the viewpoint is not prejudiced because he says that thieves often target uniformed students, both male and female.

Yet it's hard for Hardy to veil the officer's blatant sexism when he passes on the official's viewpoint concerning the incident of harassment. Apparently, the officer doesn't think it's wise for female students to wear skirts on the TTC, since the pervert looks up their skirts.  In terms of the two girls who were harassed, he says, "if they had, for example, jeans or sweatpants on, it wouldn't be an issue."

Perhaps this officer was well intentioned when he made these comments, but the "advice" offered provides no security for girls of any age. In fact, it does more to harm us than it does to help us.

When the officer says that there wouldn't be an issue if the girl's hadn't been wearing skirts, the officer is completely brushing aside the fact that there wouldn't be an issue if there hadn't been a pervert.

Law enforcement officials advising young girls not to wear skirts because there are perverts out there are sending the message that in wearing the skirts the girls are to blame for the harassment.  Whether they intend to or not, they are reinforcing the belief that women are responsible for the behavior that their clothing provokes in other people. 

But believe me, these girls could have been dressed in jeans and sweatpants, and they probably would have still been harassed because the skirts are not the issue, and the girls are not the issue. The issue is the pervert.

If you replace the skirts with pants, the pervert still remains. So, the real problem is sexual harassment, and as a woman, I can tell you that it is a problem. A major problem.

I would also like to add that sexual harassment still occurs in countries where women are completely covered from head to toe, so can we please once and for all drop the illusion that the problem is a woman's attire?

I can tell you from my own experience that this world is a hostile place for a woman and that sexual harassment can occur anywhere, no matter what you are wearing. It feels humiliating, and it's degrading. It needs to end, and the way to do that is to hold the perpetrators, not the victims, accountable for their behavior.

How to deal with sexual harassment
Let's use this as a forum to relay practical and useful advice on how to deal with harassment and how to hold harassers responsible...

Holly Kearl, founder and author of the Stop Street Harassment, offers suggestions on how victims and bystanders should deal with harassment in various situations.

Depending on the safety of the situation, she suggests talking to the perpetrator. In a calm, assertive, non-apologetic manner, name the harasser's behavior, state that it is wrong, tell him to go away, or identify him out loud. For example on a crowded bus we can say, "Man in red shirt. Stop touching me. Step away from me."

Other suggestions include asking a Socratic question like, "Why do you think it's ok to put your hand on my leg?"  We can ask the perpetrator whether he would treat his mother/sister/daughter this way or say something along the lines of  "I beg your pardon! You must have me confused with someone to whom you think you can speak that way to." We can write down license plate numbers and ask harassers for their names so that we can report them.

When harassment occurs, it is important that we let others know what's going on and report it to the police or transit authorities. If harassed by people while they are on the job, contact their employer and report the date and time the harassment occurred.

As bystanders, we can also work to end harassment through intervention and support. In situations that appear suspect, we can ask if the perpetrator is bothering the victim, if everything is ok, or simply if either the perpetrator or the victim knows the time.  As silly as it sounds, distractions and indirect interventions, like asking for the time or directions, are good ways to dilute potentially dangerous situations and avoid big scenes. If a victim has identified her harasser, we must voice our support.

Sexual harassment in public occurs so frequently that many of us fail to see its repercussions, yet it limits a woman's ability to feel safe in public and to go out in public. But it will not end if it's the victims who are constantly told that they are the cause of the problem.

What advice would you offer?

[Tonitrus]

Almost as bad as the recent drive to try and prevent high school cheerleaders from wearing their uniforms during class. 

[Ed Anger]

Almost as bad as the recent drive to try and prevent high school cheerleaders from wearing their uniforms during class. 

I'm laughing at your avatar. 

[Tonitrus]

Almost as bad as the recent drive to try and prevent high school cheerleaders from wearing their uniforms during class. 

I'm laughing at your avatar. 

It was inspired by your recent nerve stapling comment.  :salute:

[Ideologue]

How ridiculous.  You can't own photons.

[Admiral Yi]

:uselesswithoutpics:

[Eddie Teach]

Misogynistic dinosaurs.

Stop taking gender studies courses.

[Ed Anger]

Almost as bad as the recent drive to try and prevent high school cheerleaders from wearing their uniforms during class. 

I'm laughing at your avatar. 

It was inspired by your recent nerve stapling comment.  :salute:

Don't go....the drones need you!

[Josephus]

You know, I just want to say in my defence, that that day I happened to be riding the TTC (Toronto's Metro system) and bent to pick up a token (payment coin used on the TTC) from the floor, when it just happened that said high school girl in uniform skirt shifted her legs, and as it happened my phone fell from my pocket and accidently took a picture.
This, as it happens, happened two or three other times on different days.
But to be labelled a pervert, in all fairness, is a huge example of defamation on the police's part.

[Habbaku]

Almost as bad as the recent drive to try and prevent high school cheerleaders from wearing their uniforms during class. 

I'm laughing at your avatar. 

It was inspired by your recent nerve stapling comment.  :salute:

Don't go....the drones need you!

They look up to you...

[garbon]

Aren't the girls wearing those skirts because the school makes them? Could easily be construed as a reason to change school polcy.

[HisMajestyBOB]

How ridiculous.  You can't own photons.

Communist 
The invisible hand provides the optimal distribution of photons.

[Ideologue]

How ridiculous.  You can't own photons.

Communist 
The invisible hand provides the optimal distribution of photons.

You can't stop the signal.

[Neil]

Tim, why are you such a fag?

[Neil]

How ridiculous.  You can't own photons.

Communist 
The invisible hand provides the optimal distribution of photons.

You can't stop the signal.

You can drown it out though.