Day of Blogs

A New York City Transit campaign aimed to prevent sexual assault on the subway was recently shelved for fears that it would actually provoke more attacks. The above ad was run in the Boston Transit System, and NYC was considering a similar campaign.

The New York Post reports that Boston saw a significant increase in reported assaults after they ran the ad — but logically believe that this is simply due to an increased rate in reporting by women who now understand that what has been done to them is crime. Some argue that the tagline may be a problem — as though assailants will take the “expose” line literally, or be titillated by it.

But personally, with 10% of women surveyed reporting having been sexually abused on the subway, and 63% reporting sexual harassment, I think you have to wonder if the city might be more concerned with making it look like the subway is safe rather than actually making it safe. After all, to the uninformed, an increased rate of sexual assault reporting can look like some awful bad news.