Getting Groped on Public Transportation - My Story, to Help You Protect Yourself

Using public transportation is a convenient, environmentally friendly, inexpensive, and reliable way to get around especially if you live in a big city. For the most part your city's buses and trains can be a safe place to ride but if you're a woman (or maybe even a man) there's always the risk of getting groped by a random pervert (it's happened to me and other women I know and and it's so common in places like Japan that there are female-only carts during rush hour commutes). Here are four ways you can protect yourself and prevent it from happening to you.

Don't ride empty train carts alone at night or during the early mornings. If you're taking the subway and you know it's during a time when they aren't going to be a lot of passengers on board make sure you take a seat on the very first cart so that you'll be as close as possible to the conductor.

Always be aware of your surroundings no matter what. Even if you're taking transportation during rush hour when they're tons of people on board don't assume that a groper won't reach out and touch you. Some men violate women when people are around since it's very surprising and humiliating for the woman, and also because most women have let their guards down considerably.

I was groped in public on two separate occasions. The first time was when I riding a train and standing up because it was so jam-packed with people and there were no seats. I was literally surrounded by people who were none the wiser as I was groped. I was groped for the second time on a bus that had about 15 passengers.

So to avoid this awful situation try not to daydream and definitely don't fall asleep on public transportation since your defenses will be completely down. And while most perverts look really normal since there's no official uniform that they wear just try to be aware of the people around you, especially anyone who seems suspicious.