It’s not really surprising that only a small proportion of women who endure unwanted sexual attention on public transport report it (End of the line, G2, 5 April). Given that catching the perpetrators is not common and that the police have a huge number of other calls on their time, the sheer bother of filing a report must seem like a total waste of time.
Instead, why are women not advised to confront the gropers? A remark in a loud voice, shaming them and attracting the attention of other passengers in a crowded carriage, is surely more effective. It also will encourage women to not see themselves – and be regarded – as helpless victims who have no power to prevent this gross behaviour. I’ve never been groped on the tube, but I know that I wouldn’t hesitate to challenge it.
Wendy Buonaventura
Bristol
• My grandmother, a well-dressed young woman, circa 1900, travelled in the tube wearing a fur stole with the tail and paws of the animal hanging at the front. When she tried to get out of the train because of unwanted attention from a fellow passenger, she found they were locked together: she with the body around her neck; he with the dangly bits in his trousers. Plus ça change.
Emmeline Stevenson
Pencaitland, East Lothian
• First, I am glad to know that Transport for London is prepared to try a little harder with the problem of groping on the tube. I am in my 80s, but I worked in London in my youth and groping always went on. I never went anywhere without an umbrella with a sharp ferrule – carried under one’s arm at the right angle, it was invaluable for discouraging undue familiarity.
Second, thank you, Michele Hanson (5 April), for writing about a memory problem that concerns most of us over a certain age, and for making me laugh immoderately.
Ruth Baden
Seer Green, Buckinghamshire
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