Viral ‘Subway Shirts’: Girls Nonetheless Dealing with Harassment on Tube

The myriad of how girls attempt to keep away from hazard is exhausting (Footage: Getty)

Skirt, crop prime, thigh excessive boots.

That is the outfit she’ll put on on the membership, however this isn’t the outfit you may see on the Tube as she travels to and from the night time out.

A jacket to cowl cleavage, tights to hide legs, and maybe a change of footwear that is perhaps simpler to run in: these are all alterations girls routinely make to really feel safer. And now, there’s a time period for it.

New Yorkers have been sharing their ‘subway shirts’ – a unfastened jacket or different modification to cowl a sizzling look – and it’s resonated with girls internationally.

Not that garments ought to dictate how you need to be handled.

Vogue influencer Sophie Milner noticed the New York development and introduced it into context for Brits watching.

She wrote on Instagram: ‘I’ve executed this for therefore lengthy it’s turn into a unconscious a part of getting dressed – so I’m glad it’s being talked about!

‘Whether or not it’s altering out of over the knee boots into trainers, throwing a big trench excessive, placing leggings on underneath a sheer skirt, or an outsized sweater’ – all earlier than altering again into the principle outfit within the venue bathrooms.

She says she does this even when going to the outlets to keep away from catcalling.

Sophie added: ‘It’s common. As somebody who has at all times liked expressing themselves with trend, sporting outfits that make ME be ok with myself, it frustrates me a lot that I’ve to tailor my selections so typically to keep away from undesirable consideration and keep protected.

‘Additionally, girls don’t gown for males. We gown for ourselves. We gown for different girls too, typically. But it surely’s not often about males.

‘If I’m dressing for males I’m placing on a saggy t-shirt, sweatpants and sun shades so that you don’t look my manner.’

Deniz Uğur, deputy director of the Finish Violence Towards Girls Coalition, says sadly, this development is ‘nothing new’.

‘Girls and women have at all times needed to perform invisible security work to guard ourselves from the specter of male violence,’ she tells Metro.co.uk.

‘It’s exhausting to be always on alert – carrying your keys in your hand, making fast choices concerning the most secure path to stroll dwelling, calling or texting mates to examine they bought dwelling okay.’

Nonetheless, she is eager to emphasize that ‘nothing girls can do will ever be capable to cease a perpetrator intent on harming them’ – and it’s very important to keep away from victim-blaming narrative when discussing the choices some girls really feel pressured to make round clothes.

In the end, she says, the subway shirt helps girls ‘mix in’, fairly than stopping assaults.

‘Sexual harassment is an nearly common expertise for girls and women whereas going about our every day lives, it doesn’t matter what we put on or the place we’re,’ Deniz says.

‘The burden mustn’t lie with girls to “not be harassed or assaulted”.

‘The duty lies with males, not solely to not assault girls and women, however to name one another out and maintain one another accountable for the views and attitudes that drive violence towards girls and women.

‘We have to see sustained funding in and prioritisation of prevention work, similar to public perspective campaigns that sort out dangerous views and behaviours and educate the general public on protected bystander intervention, in addition to high quality relationships and intercourse training in colleges that’s primarily based on consent and equality.’

Transport for London has made some progress, with the anti-harassment and ‘cease staring’ posters now seen throughout the Tube community. However clearly, if girls are nonetheless sporting ‘subway shirts’, we’ve got some strategy to go.

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