On Tuesday, the Thomson Reuters Foundation unveiled an exclusive poll detailing the most dangerous public transport systems for women. Among metropolitans like Mexico City, Moscow, Tokyo and Buenos Aires, New York City ranked the best in terms of safety. The same day, NYC-based anti-harassment organization Hollaback! NYC released an unsettling video showing a woman walking the City’s streets and getting verbally assaulted 100 times over the course of 10 hours. The instantly-viral video, shot and directed by Rob Bliss, showed an interesting contrast to the study claiming New York as a safe space for women as compared to other major metropolitans.
“I think the bar is pretty low when it comes to determining safety and public transport around the world,” Hollaback!’s Deputy Director Debjani Roy told Metro. “Maybe it makes sense that New York City is [the safest], but that doesn’t really testify to the prevalence of harassment that we face here on subways and buses.” Roy, who has lived in New York on an off for the past 19 years, agrees that NYC has in some ways gotten safer over the years, though she admits to regularly dealing with harassment, something she sees as a byproduct of the City long functioning as a male-centric metropolis. “Historically, public spaces have been a domain of men, and I feel like a lot of men see it as an issue of power and entitlement that this is their space, and we’re just walking in it. And so they objectify us in that space,” said Roy. “All I can say is I’m harassed multiple times a week, on my way to work, on my way home, just hanging out, and it has certainly affected the way I move through public spaces,” she added. Despite New York’s positive ranking in Reuters’ perception poll, it seems the City’s got a long way to go to make its women feel safer.
Anti-Harassment group releases video of woman getting verbally assaulted 100 times in 10 hours
