Travelling trauma

The following scenario may be unknown to many of you, but to some it may be familiar since I have been receiving a lot of phone calls from women who complain about the following. Some of you, I hope, would be made aware of these happenings after you read this and be on the lookout for it.

Recently, a woman (let’s call her Nina), travelling from Port-of-Spain to San Fernando found herself sitting directly behind the driver, and next to a very decently attired young man who appeared to be a gentleman. This incident surely taught her not to judge a book by its cover and to think because a man dresses well he is gentleman.

At the beginning of the journey Nina found that the man’s leg was too close to hers and thus, she pulled herself closer to the door only to find the man’s leg automatically moved with hers as she snug closer to the door. Thinking he really could not control his weight she let it be without saying anything and tried to get her mind off the uncomfortable feeling of this man’s leg pushing against her.

A few minutes later she found his arm was literally lying across half of her chest. Feeling violated and definitely appalled, Nina slid her arm from under the man’s arm and held on to the handle on the door so that she could give him a sharp elbow if he tried anything like that again.

She was only inches from being pushed outside the car!

A couple minutes later, though, she found the man’s elbow on her stomach and he was literally using force and pressing her stomach. Nina being a quiet, bony, Indian girl was disgusted and helpless, and got out of the taxi.

Hers, dear readers, was a true story, and it happened to me yesterday while travelling from Chaguanas to Tabaquite. I too felt quite disgusted and really quite helpless. It was traumatic! The only thing is, the "gentleman" looked older than sixty and I assure you, had no self-respect.

This may sound really weird to many but those women who have to travel by taxi will understand what I am saying.

One caller told me a man went so far as to expose himself in the car. She added that she wasn’t sure if he was masturbating in the taxi.

Being of a quiet nature and knowing how most men refer to women as "liars" how can one report something like this to the police who by the way are also disrespectful to women. Ironically enough, one had the audacity to insult a co-worker right here in front of Newsday’s office.

Not only did he disrespect an innocent woman who was going about her own business, but he disrespected his uniform and his duty to protect and serve.

This simply shows that this "man" has no self-respect and he brought shame to the entire police service. Because of fools like him no one, well at least few women, have respect for male police officers.

Men being rude and disrespectful to women is definitely a growing problem. I have no idea what they gain from doing this but I do believe it is because they cannot develop their own self-esteem and depend on degrading women to make them "appear" strong and confident. Well that’s plain stupid!

Maybe women are to blame for this. Maybe we allow them to disrespect us. But it is time we put a stop to it. When we tell a man in a taxi "don’t touch me" the worst that can happen is receiving an insult and who cares about that? Aren’t we all used to being insulted by men?

You know what’s really sad? The fact that gentlemen are indeed few and far between. Maybe women are to blame here, too. Maybe we aren’t doing a proper job as mothers. We teach them that men are not supposed to do the dishes, men are not supposed to cook or take care of the children, and fathers teach them that men are not supposed to listen to what women have to say.

So basically, you can walk up to any woman "feel her up" and if she says anything deal her some severe blows.

Well that is nonsense. We need to stay away from that backward culture and teach men that not only are men and women equal, but that we have no intention of putting up with the crap they try on us in taxis.

That bill that was passed in the House of Representatives on Monday should not just cover women who are persistently harassed by men, but women who are harassed, period!

Thank God I was blessed with the opportunity to meet a few genuine "gentlemen." Maybe they should start a school.