Article: ‘Upskirting, street harassment becomes rising threat in D.C., report finds’

For Maryland, Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia–this does not surprise me at all since women LIVE it everyday of their lives:

‘Upskirting, street harassment becomes rising threat in D.C., report finds” https://www.gwhatchet.com/2017/11/09/upskirting-street-harassment-becomes-rising-threat-in-d-c-report-finds/                                                                                                                    By Riya Gavaskar Nov 9, 2017 12:32 AM

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Reported cases of upskirting — taking unauthorized pictures underneath a woman’s skirt or dress — in the D.C. area have soared in the past three years.

A team of experts reviewed court records in D.C., Virginia and Maryland, and found cases had jumped 70 percent since 2015, according to a report published late last month by NBC Washington. Advocates said these cases, meant to demean and degrade women – including female students – in public, have become a growing threat with the growth of smart phones and social media.

Many of these cases occur at Metro stations, where women are three times more likely than men to be victims of harassment, according to a 2016 report from the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority – the agency that oversees the Metro.

Claire Gould, the communications director for Collective Action for Safe Spaces, a non-profit organization that works to combat harassment and assault, said harassment occurs most often in crowded areas, like a Metro station or Metro car.

“It’s always frustrating when women, in particular, have to be more careful in order to avoid things like this.”

“It’s demeaning and an invasion of privacy,” Gould said in an email. “Like any kind of public harassment, we believe everyone deserves the right to move through public spaces without fear of being harassed or assaulted.”

Gould said officials should start a public awareness campaign to curb harassment on the Metro, collect data on the number of incidents and train employees and transit police on how to address sexual harassment.

Terri Poore, the policy director for the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, said upskirting cannot be prevented easily because it occurs in crowded, busy areas — making it difficult to track down perpetrators.

“There is no shortcut around the fact that people are going to have to have courage and stepping in when they see these sorts of behaviors happening and not leave the onus on the victim,” she said. “Really everyone needs to take an active part in preventing this kind of behavior.”

Although upskirting is considered a form of voyeurism, experts said it is difficult to prosecute in D.C. courts. Consent for taking a picture or recording is only required when the individual has a reasonable expectation of privacy according to voyeurism laws in D.C.

In 2014, a D.C. judge dismissed charges against a man accused of taking photos up a woman’s skirt at the Lincoln Memorial, citing that the accuser could not have a reasonable expectation of privacy while on the National Mall, according to a Huffington Post report.

Amanda Lindamood, the director of training and community engagement for the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, said it’s difficult to prosecute upskirting because laws pertaining to sexual assault are relatively new and there is no general consensus about how they can be enforced and adjudicated.

“Every district, or every jurisdiction, approaches legislation related to violence in a very different way and it’s kind of a new category of consent to think about it, again as just not a physical violence, but that it has to do with images, has to do with social media,” Lindamood said. “It’s kind of a very new section of the law we’re playing catch up on.”

Students said upskirting and general street harassment is a constant menance, especially on an urban campus.

Freshman Andie Kemmerle said it’s aggravating that women have to constantly be on alert when riding the Metro.

“It’s always frustrating when women, in particular, have to be more careful in order to avoid things like this,” she said. “Whereas, it should be that people shouldn’t be doing this in the first place, but hopefully people are for their own safety, being careful about their surroundings when they’re in public.”

In February, the advocacy group Collective Action for Safe Spaces launched a petition that has garnered 333 signatures to urge the the D.C. Council to pass a bill to training and educate D.C. employees about sexual harassment.

“What can people do to keep themselves safe when the law doesn’t even know what’s legal and what’s illegal anymore?”

That same month, some students accused construction workers renovating Corcoran Hall of street harassment and catcalling. D.C. businesses have installed street exhibits and initialed training programs in recent months to try to prevent harassment across the city.

Gabrielle Battino, a sophomore, said living on an urban campus in a densely populated city makes sexual harassment more of a concern.

“It sucks that I’m a woman on campus and I don’t feel safe 100 percent of the time and I should because this is my community,” Battino said. “I guess the only thing I can do is be cautious and be an advocate for the issue.”

Tamara Criss, a graduate student in public health, said D.C should criminalize upskirting because it will encourage more victims come forward to report incidents.

“You can only imagine no one is going to report anything if nothing is going to happen. I think that increasing the criminalization of the activity would be smart,” Criss said. “What can people do to keep themselves safe when the law doesn’t even know what’s legal and what’s illegal anymore?”

Black Males Idiotic Attempts to Justify Sexual Harassment, Street Harassment and Other Crimes

A late morning at a D.C. Metro Station

One day in the late morning I was using the D.C. metro. I was either at Metro Center or Gallery Place Chinatown where there is a convergence of transfer points for various lines. I was descending down the escalator to get to the platform and noticed two major things:
1) there were a  few major brown post structure in the center like most stations have.
2) A dark-skinned African “Christian” male was already staring at me from the platform as I was at the top of the descent.

I knew he was directing his unwanted attention at me because I was the only one on the escalator.  As a preventative measure, though it was daylight, I made the conscious decision to go right when I stepped off the platform.  This way the first post I see could be an initial barrier.  To no avail he started walking suddenly in the same direction towards me. I then walked left to get away from him an intentionally positioned myself amongst several people–all Black who pretended they did not see anything.

A short Asian Muslim  woman also in hijab was walking past along the platform and NO ONE said any thing to her. She smiled and greeted me and for a small moment I thought that was the end of the crazy man’s exploit. After she was on her way, the African “Christian” male began to extend his arm to towards me to try and touch me and stated “I want talk to you.” I  immediately moved several spaces down. He began walking towards me again just as my train arrived. Lucky for me, it was the ONLY thing that protected me, the metro employees did nothing and neither did all the black “Christians” standing on the platform except look down and act as if they did not see anything awry.

Disgusting hypocrites.  So there you have it, ALL Black American women (Sunni Muslim, Buddhist, atheist, professional, college students, etc.)are viewed by men of color as trash to be dumped on.