Isaac N. Breon
Dr. Entzminger
Foundations of Writing
May 09, 2022
An Analysis of the current uncommon situation of bullying speech problems on public transit:
Did you ever come across a hippy stranger on a public bus, or any public space, that severely injured your sense of privacy with coarse speech? About anything political or simply anything divisive? If you haven’t, then someone else you know of probably has, and his or her story may, indeed, be pretty horrifying. Happily, most forms of bullying have not been too widespread, and many instances that have happened eventually catch the public eye in one form or another. However, that does not mean that bullying, in general, has died down. For many Muslims in America, they encounter this issue when they come across ads that say things like “IN ANY WAR BETWEEN THE CIVILIZED MAN AND THE SAVAGE, SUPPORT THE CIVILIZED MAN. SUPPORT ISRAEL, DEFEAT JIHAD.” on the sides of our own American buses. This kind of abuse has and still happens to every kind of American in many different ways, especially in our divisive and polarized country, both online and in our public spaces and forums. That phase has now infiltrated into the public transportation sector.
Unfortunately, public transportation and bullying, unlike most other prevalent modern forms of bullying, have a very long history together. However, this has been found to have not been the same case with women, as women were often treated as equals, and, in some cases, as superior, to men. In colonial times, transportation was a mixed-gender thing, as women could basically ride any mode of transportation they wanted, with or without men, although having a male escort was the traditional norm. This was advanced later on with the advent of the railroads in the 1800s, as women could either ride with men or in "ladies cars." This was not seen as something related to sexism, because in this regard, women were actually given the preferred treatment over men. This can be seen in the behaviors men had with regards to these "ladies cars," as they are known to have been a bit rather jealous given the quality of treatment and style that was typical of these "ladies cars." In fact, according to a book by Amy Richter entitled Home on the Rails, there are surviving records on cases where men tried boarding the women's cars but were then ejected: the case of a man named John M. Peck, "who had been ejected from the ladies car on the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad," Bass vs. Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company, and Brown vs. Charleston & Memphis Railroad Company (Richter, pgs. 98 - 99). The railroads won these cases, and the women were able to still keep their own railroad cars. In fact, the railroads were some of the few spaces in America where women could feel free hold to their own. This has remained this way all through American history, and so, transportation is one of the few modes of life where sexism has never been quite fully documented. Same with automobiles, same with buses, same with any kind of watercraft or aircraft. Basically, if a woman did face discrimination on public transportation, it likely was actually because she was also a person of color. However, this does not mean that women have not been bullied on public transportation. According to a 2020 article from Metro Magazine, one case study of 891 students from San Jose State University found that 63% of respondents had been victimized from being sexually harassed on public transit. The most common form reported was verbal harassment: however, the study also revealed that none of the students seemed to have any unified idea as to what sexual harassment really is, and this study may be a reflection of most of Generation Z and Millennials. 63% said that they had experienced home kind of harassing behavior on public transit: of that 63%, 41% said that their harassment was through "obscene/harassing language," 26% said it came through sexual comments, 22% had been stalked (including 18% who said that they "had been victims of indecent exposure"), and 11% reported "groping or inappropriate touching." Clearly, women are still bullied on public transit, and there is lots of proof to prove that.
However, women have still not had to endure the kinds of transit pressures that other groups have faced. We know almost everything about how blacks were treated in the 1800s, but one thing that is unknown to most people is that immigrants, especially those of non-European descent, were also treated pretty badly. One way that this can be seen is through the use of what were called "colonist cars." They were a very popular thing here in North America, and were not uncommon. These "colonist cars" were used to segregate immigrants from born-and-bred Americans. The conditions of these cars was only spartan, and not many amenities were offered on them, in comparison with the typical amenities of a typical passenger car. However, there doesn't seem to be many sources to be found online for anti-immigrant hate on public transportation here in the Americas aside from the subject of "colonist cars," so in most other ways, it probably has always been the case that immigrants could just travel in whatever ways they wanted. They could travel on whatever kinds of vehicles they wanted, and could also buy whatever they desired, just like any non-black American, unless the immigrant was, of course, a slave or free people of color. At least that was the case in legal terms.
In conclusion, history and bullying on public transportation do, indeed, "have a history together." Even if most women weren't bullied on the basis of gender, some still were on the basis of their skin. So, for women, even if the situation for them has never been nearly as bad as other groups of people, it still can be quite an issue. Another thing that has been covered is some background behind the ways in which immigrants were segregated from born-and-bred citizens in the 1800s with the advent of the "colonist cars." Above all, this is a pretty deep topic, and all the content involved with it needs a lift in the public forums of speech and thought.
Works Cited:
1. Hanna, Jonathan. “Colonist Cars Helped Build the West.” Okthepk, 2008, http://www.okthepk.ca/dataCprSiding/cprNews/cpNews90/08090100.htm.
2. "Hemmings Contributor". “How Women's Experience with Theautomobile Fundamentally Differs from Men's.” Hemmings.com, 23 Jan. 2018, https://www.hemmings.com/stories/2018/01/28/how-womens-experience-with-the-automobile-fundamentally-differs-from-mens.
3. Richter, Amy G. Home on the Rails: Women, the Railroad, and the Rise of Public Domesticity, The University of North Carolina Press, United States, North Carolina, 2005.
4. Walsh, Margaret. “Gender and the Automobile in the United States.” Automobile in American Life and Society, http://www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Gender/Walsh/G_Overview.htm.
5. Walsh, Margaret. “Gender in the History of Transportation Services: A Historiographical Perspective.” The Business History Review, 2007.
Comments
Post a Comment