BY MARY STROKA
London’s Metropolitan Police and British Transport Police launched a program last week to try to thwart sexual assault on and around public transportation.
A February 2013 Transport for London (TFL) report stated that, according to TFL surveys, 15 percent of women said they "had experienced unwelcome sexual behaviour while travelling on, waiting for, or heading to or from public transport in London" in the last year, but 91 percent had not reported it to the police. More information on the surveys is here.
The report stated the purpose of the new program, Project Guardian, is to encourage reporting and "target unwelcome sexual behaviour and sexual offenders."
Ellie Cosgrave is one such woman who experienced sexual assault and sexual harassment on a London "tube" train. She shared her story with The Guardian -- how a man humiliated her and how she demonstrated on a train on International Women's Day this year, defying the ordeal through dance.
The movement by Cosgrave and the London police is inspiring, and I hope it effects change. It will most likely at least bring more attention to the issue and perhaps a better understanding of the implications of sexual assault.