N-train NERD gets Nasty

Yesterday, a guy who looks nerdy in sweatpants was staring from across on the N-train, sitting forward and trying to look up my dress while I'm sitting. My guess is he was jerking off because sometimes he would cross his legs and put his hand in his pocket trying to find his little thing. He was shaking his body, looking at me up and down, and moving his eyes away when I looked at his nasty ugly face. I'm glad there were other people on the train because I don't know he might have flashed me. Submitted by Sabrina

D train Douchbag Assaults 15 Year Old Girl

I want to tell you about a disturbing trip on the D line I had the other night. It was really scary. I was coming back from school. As usual I climbed aboard a jam packed train and had to squeeze in front of some people to grab a handle. As I grab a handle I noticed that this guy slid right in behind me and grabbed the same handle. Let me tell you there was no where AT ALL for me to move and I think he knew that. He was looking at me like a piece of meat looking right at my tits and at my crotch...So he immediately pushes his crotch against my butt. Which has happened to me before…..do they think I am just there for their pleasure??? This guy was all in my business though. Im like 15 and he was at least 30 and strong enough to push me against the other people so I couldn't move. This is when it gets worst though. I KNOW he actually pulled out his penis because I the thing poking and literally throbbing as he was grind up on me. The whole time his face was like 1 inch from me. I really felt scared. BUT yes this guy really did it. I think it was him. But a hand started rubbing my crotch too like really rubbing it.. I was too scared to even look back and it could have been someone else too. I heard him sayin stuff like you little rich bitch, do you like you ass fucked? you like you little pussy licked? It was SOOO tight I couldn't go anywhere. Anyway he kept going then all the sudden pushed really hard and stopped. Just then he got off the train quickly and I never even really got a chance to see his face. However he did leave a disgusting wad of something on my jeans. I don't know if it was spit or I HOPE not what I think it was. I have had guys like stare at me and stuff but this was tooo much. I am actually taking the bus for a while…. I was totally degraded and I would have taken a pic but I was like petrified and just tried to shrivel up and go away. I really love your site and I think it is really helping! I wish that creeps piece would fall off. I just wanted to share this with you in case there are other D train victims out there. Submitted by Krista

HollabackNYC co-founder Emily May on the Radio!

On Friday, June 19th I was on WBAI radio, HealthStyles program. To hear the segment, click here. To download the segment, click here. The interview starts around minute 6 and ends around minute 40.

Poolside Pigs

Yesterday my friends and I went to a community pool. For a while, everything was fine, we were all just swimming and having fun. There happened to be a window where you could see people working out in the gym. So when three men came up to the window, we didn't really think much of it. That's when they began to blatantly STARE, even POINT, at us. They obviously knew we were aware of them, they didn't care. One of those sick perverts made an inappropriate hand gesture to my friend, almost like he was feeling someone up or something. We complained to someone who worked there, and they asked the men to leave. They did so, but not without making a threatening gesture toward my friend's boyfriend. When the staff asked if there was a problem, they said no, but obviously there was since they left shortly after. It's really sickening that this happened - I've never experienced this sort of thing firsthand. Not only do these men make themselves look bad, it makes the pool look bad as well. Submitted by Anonymous.

Men Who Harass Me: One Woman's Partial Collection

This is the 32nd in the series. Submitted by Sally N.

Listen in on Friday to HollabackNYC co-founder Emily May

HEALTHSTYLES, WBAI Friday, June 19, 2009 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Click here to hear WBAI live over the internet. Sick of being on the alert or being harassed on the subway where crimes that are often discrimination-based that disproportionately affect women, minorities and LGBT folk happen? Find out how the MTA hides these crime stats and what to do about it from Emily May co-founder of HollabackNYC.com and New Yorkers for Safe Transit, and co-chair of Girls for Gender Equity.

N Train Heroine Ruins Jerkoff Session!

Just before the N pulled into Canal, 5:45 am. I wait 30 minutes for an N train at Union Square. As the train heads southbound, out of the corner of my eye, I see a man staring me down. I stare intently at my newspaper, annoyed but accustomed. After Prince, I realize he's making a disgusting motion. Then, I realize, he's actually masturbating. While staring at me. I don't know how to describe how I felt, but it instantly manifests in anger. I start to scream at him. I yell, and he yells-- he's mad at getting his public jerkoff session interrupted, I suppose. He heads towards the train door as we're pulling into Canal. "YOU CAN'T FUCKING DO THAT," I yell, and proceed to stick my camera phone in his face. I then chase him out of the train, on the N/Q platform. At some point, he turns around to yell at me, and calls me a "white woman" and a "bitch", and says something about an "L.U.D.", or maybe a "V.U.D" or something. I proceed to yell more and cause a scene, and chase him up some stairs. Then, I lose him. All I am really thankful for, I guess, is that he didn't put his dirty hands on me and that I ruined his erection. I was worried about reporting it, thinking the police wouldn't take it seriously, but the 72nd precinct took down a full report, and contacted the city stations as well as the transit police. Submitted by Monique

Men Who Harass Me: One Woman's Partial Collection

This is the 31st in the series. Submitted by Sally N.

Crotch Graber Strikes on C/E Line

Yesterday I was at the 23rd Street station for the C/E train, and was at the machine buying a Metrocard. All of a sudden I heard someone run up behind me. Before I could react, I felt a hand reach up my dress and grab my crotch extremely hard. I froze for a second from the shock of it, but turned in time to see the creep run as fast as he could up the stairs and onto the street. I didn't report it since no one saw it happen and I didn't get a good look at the guy. Also, I have the sad feeling that neither the MTA nor the NYPD would do much about it. Submitted by Leah

Crime Behind Closing Doors

This is reprinted from today's Metro and was written by HollabackNYC co-founder, Emily May. The MTA’s notoriously sketchy accounting has bled over from their ledgers into their crime stats. For the past three years, the MTA has declared a drop in crime on the subways. This is great news for straphangers — as long as they don’t mind a little harassment, assault or public masturbation on their morning commute. The MTA’s crime statistics only tell part of the story — tracking felonies, but hiding common, threatening misdemeanors. At a forum on public safety in Chelsea, subway riders spoke out about the persistence of these crimes, which are often discrimination-based and disproportionately affect women, minorities and LGBT folk. Their stories were everyday occurrences. Take Alice, who woke from a morning snooze on the D train last month to find a man masturbating over her; or Elizabeth, a lesbian, who was followed through the station by a man repeatedly shouting “cunnilingus.” While the experience of harassment and assault is widespread, our access to information on these crimes is severely limited. In 2007, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s office released the only report to date on the issue. According to the report, 63 percent of riders are harassed on the subway, and 10 percent are assaulted. With 5 million people riding the subway every weekday, it is fair to say that these crimes are at epidemic proportions. The MTA’s recent anti-harassment PSAs suggest victims contact an “MTA worker or police officer.” This is an empty gesture; personnel cuts have made station attendants scarce. Riders lucky enough to find help are “ignored” or told “there isn’t much they can do,” according to posts on HollabackNYC.com. The subways have come a long way since the ’70s, but cleaner trains are not necessarily safer. If we are going to herald our improvements in transit safety, “strikes, shoves and kicks,” “following a person in a public place,” harassment and other misdemeanors must be included in the MTA’s crime count. Until we have safety transparency in our subway, these crimes will continue to stand clear of the closing doors. Emily May is co-founder of HollabackNYC.com and New Yorkers for Safe Transit, and is co-chair of Girls for Gender Equity.

Turnstile Used in Subway Robbery

Men Who Harass Me: One Woman's Partial Collection

This is the 30th in the series. Submitted by Sally N.

Tweet from the Street

@brklynprgrrl Best Catcall of Day: Old man, glasses, with cane whistled at me saying I was the Apple of his eye. I'm thinkin I should go change clothes. Tweet from the street with #hbnyc! Your tweets with be retweeted through @hollabackNYC and posted to HollabackNYC!

A Little Bird Told Me...

From @ElizabethKoke: a dude turned to look me up and down, called me "bitch" and said that it looked like I had a long day but still looked good. Tweet from the street with #hbnyc! Your tweets with be retweeted through @HollabackNYC and posted to HollabackNYC!

Men Who Harass Me: One Woman's Partial Collection

This is the 30th in the series. Submitted by Sally N.

Men Who Harass Me: One Woman's Partial Collection

This is the 29th in the series. Submitted by Sally N.