We Spleen: Victim-Blaming by Vancouver’s Transit Police
We Spleen: Victim-Blaming by Vancouver’s Transit Police
Women passengers in Vancouver are voicing outrage this week over a sexual assault awareness campaign recently launched by the city’s transit police. The initiative urges victims of assault to report crimes using a new text messaging service, but instead of offering support to survivors, the campaign blames the victim.
The posters read:
Vancouver-based artist Anoushka Ratnarajah saw the posters Thursday and was immediately alarmed.
“Maybe you should spend less time making survivors feel like shit on their morning commute,” she wrote in an Instagram post.
In the U.S., more than 60 percent of sexual assaults go unreported—the numbers are even more dismal in Canada— often because victims lack trust in the criminal justice system. Sending the message that not reporting the assault is worse than actually being assaulted is not going to help raise survivors’ confidence.
Sexual assault is a growing problem on Vancouver buses and trains. From January to April, there were 49 reported assaults, up from 40 the previous year during the same period. Last year, two riders who regularly experienced sexual harassment on transit took matters into their own hands and launched “Harassment on TransLink“—a blog not unlike Hollaback!—where women can share their stories of assault.
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http://msmagazine.com/blog/2014/07/25/we-spleen-victim-blaming-by-vancouvers-transit-police/