It's mind the sex gap as MTR perverts target men

It's mind the sex gap as MTR perverts target men

Phila Siu 

Tuesday, September 06, 2011

Men beware! You too are not safe from gropers on the MTR. But women are still the main victims, says the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong.

Its survey showed that while one in five women claimed to have been groped in train compartments, one in 20 men had the same complaint.

Eleven of the 221 men and 77 of the 434 women interviewed said they have been molested. Worse still, only two of the men and three women went to the police. The police said they received 113 reports of molestation on the MTR in 2009 and 151 in 2010. There were 68 cases in the first six months of this year.

DAB district councillor and women's affairs committee chairwoman Elizabeth Quat said victims did not report the attacks because they felt it would be hard for charges to stick. In addition, many felt embarrassed and scared.

"It is not uncommon for women to be molested in MTR trains, especially during peak hours," she said. "Some people like to molest the women in really crowded compartments."

Quat said the most common complaint was touching a woman's breasts with the arms and pretending the action was unintentional. Men had their bottoms grabbed when trains came to a stop.

Quat said she also witnessed a man pressing the lower part of his body against the bottom of a girl in uniform. The girl said nothing and may not even have realized she was being molested.

She said some male friends told her they were molested by men but were too afraid to speak up.

Quat called on the MTR to install "women-only" compartments during peak hours, as in Japan, to stop molestations. She also called for surveillance cameras in trains so victims will have evidence if needed.

The MTR said women-only compartments are not common in world rail systems and it has no such plan at this stage. All trains on the West Rail, Ma On Shan and Disneyland Resort lines are equipped with cameras, as well as some trains on the East Rail Line.

However, the cameras are mainly for train captains to monitor inside the compartments.

The MTR said it will work closely with police to take steps to increase passenger safety and stop crime.