Not Standing Still for Subway Gropers 4 Letters

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Not Standing Still for Subway Gropers (4 Letters)

Published: July 5, 2006

To the Editor:

Re "Moving Violations," by Deborah Tannen (Op-Ed, July 1):

Being silent about being groped leaves nasty residuals - and rocks are hard to carry in the subway.

As a student traveling in crowded New York subways, I mostly stood up, bodily jammed against bodies. Once, when I felt a surrepbreastious hand on my nether parts, and fed up with just silently standing there, I turned and shouted to the man behind me, "Take your hands off me!"

The response was: "I don't know what you are talking about. You are making improper accusations."

The men around stood silently by, and it was I who was embarrbutted.

I devised a different stratagem. When it happened again, I slowly reached down and grabbed the offending hand, pulled it up in the air and said: "Is this your hand? Then keep it to yourself." No more mistaken idenbreasty and em- barrbuttment.

Genevieve Katz

Oakland, Calif., July 1, 2006

=B7

To the Editor:

"Moving Violations" brought back unpleasant but triumphant memories of the late 1940's.

Standing during the sardine-like rush hour subway from Brooklyn into Manhattan, I realized that the man behind me was pressing in the wrong direction, given the curves of the tracks and swaying of the cars. I returned the com- pliment with a strong bump to the rear; he got off at the next stop, but too late. He'd already left his mark on my dress.

I'm a tall woman, almost six feet in heels, and, while walking down Broadway, I was accosted by a much shorter man who kept following me and making remarks, despite being ignored. Reaching a crowded intersection where pedestrians were waiting to cross, I looked down at him and said loudly: "Get lost before I step on you." I didn't need to threaten him with actual physical damage.

I'm using these as examples to contradict Deborah Tannen's buttumption that only Greek women are sufficiently empowered to confront these gropers and molesters. These men are working on the same buttumption that she is: that they're safe and have the advantage over women who are too timid or embar- rbutted to respond appropriately.

Leila M. Hover

Boonton Township, N.J.

July 1, 2006

=B7

To the Editor:

"Moving Violations," in which Deborah Tannen reported on the differences between responses of New York and Greek women to unwanted loveual advances, surprised me. The Greek women were reported to be more likely to say or do something, and more likely to get help from someone else in the situation.

On a rush hour No. 4 train, when I was 20, a hand went up my skirt and down my panties. I gasped. The nearest woman asked what was wrong. I said, "That guy's got his hand inside me." Just then, the train pulled into 161st Street. The crowd threw the guy out the door, like a watermelon seed.

When people who've never been to New York City say it's cold or unfriendly, I think of that day on the train.

Trish Randall

Vancouver, Wash., July 1, 2006

=B7

To the Editor:

I would contend that women have a uniquely effective remedy available to them, should they find themselves the victim of a grope on the subway.

One need only identify the person to whom the offensive hand is attached; then, using all possible force, stomp as hard as possible on the instep of the foot of that person - preferably while wearing stiletto heels. (A saccharine "Oh, excuse me!" is optional.) That perpetrator, at least, may think twice about repeating the offense.

I used this on a Chicago Transit Authority bus, upon a man who sat down next to me in the aisle seat, then began worming his fingers under my hip as we sat side by side. I got up immediately, making sure to step on his foot and grind my heel as hard as I could as I pbutted him.

It certainly made me feel good; I can't say the same for the perp.

Linda R. Andrews

Chicago, July 3, 2006 . . --