【eroticism and the body politic】

If you are eroticism and the body politicfemale and have ever ridden a train or bus, sexually inappropriate gestures, words and even contact are things you might be all too familiar with.

Now the Los Angeles public transit system will be the first in the world to address this problem by offering its riders a 24/7 hotline for sexual harassment, according to a statement from the LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

When riders call 1-844-Off-Limits (633-5464), they can talk through the incident with a counselor from the organization Peace Over Violence and receive the resources and information necessary to report it to the police. The group has counseled victims of sexual abuse in LA County and has hosted its own 24/7 hotline for survivors of rape and battery for over 45 years.

“No other transit agency in the world has a 24/7 sexual harassment victim hotline,” Metro CEO Phillip Washington said in a statement.

Peace Over Violence promoted the new program with a Facebook post explaining why uninvited sexual advances are always wrong.

"Because riding the bus to work is not an invitation," the post reads. "A crowded subway car is not an excuse ... Whatever you’re wearing to go from Point A to Point B is not an invitation nor is it an excuse."

Sexual harassment is already difficult to deal with, but those who experience it on public transit may have to deal with the same harassers over and over again, according to Patty Giggans, executive director of Peace Over Violence.

“We want victims to make reports and also have the resources they need to recover in a healthy way," Giggans said in a Metro statement.

In a 2015 piece titled "After I Was Sexually Harassed on the Subway, I Came Up With 7 Simple Ways to Stop It," Micwriter Natasha Noman detailed her own experience having a man glare at her while touching himself, as she rode the subway in New York City. Among other suggestions, she gave public transit systems this key bit of advice: "Have a dedicated phone number for victims of sexual harassment or abuse." She said NYC's system for dealing with the problem felt "indifferent, passive and ineffectual."

"When I attempted to report my harassment via the MTA website, I was asked to fill out an online form, which was then forwarded to law enforcement, who can decide whether or not to contact me back. My other option, once I exited the subway and the harassment was no longer ongoing, was to call a non-emergency police number or the general MTA customer service number (but only in order to make an anonymous report)."

The New York City public transit system does encourage people who see or experience sexual harassment to report it to transit employees or police, but some stories from female riders indicate that hasn't always been helpful.

Another account of sexual harassment in Gawkerfeatured a writer explaining how a man lifted up her skirt to take a photograph of her right after she got off the subway in NYC. She went over to an MTA employee to report the abuse, alongside a woman who witnessed the incident and said the same thing happened to her recently, possibly by the same person. When local police showed up, it didn't seem to help, she wrote.

"I was expecting there to be a protocol or a game plan, but quickly discovered that there was no such thing," the anonymous account read. "I kept waiting for a supervising officer or somebody who knew what to do to show up, but instead the three officers just kept asking each other 'So what do we do now?' and made it clear that they did not know what to do next."

Offering a reporting hotline especially for riders appears to be something new. And LA Metro also seems to be leading the way by offering counseling to those who experience harassment, a service that doesn't appear to be offered elsewhere.

Back in April 2015, LA Metro launched the "It's Off Limits" campaign that posted advertisements on 2,200 buses and 400 train cars and handed out pamphlets encouraging victims of harassment to report the abuse to local police. Last year, it released a video encouraging riders to also report harassment if they see it happening to another person.

"If you need help, or you see someone who needs help, you can tell any Metro employee," Metro staffers state in the video.

Los Angeles is complementing the hotline with cellphone service in downtown stations and increased video surveillance.