I was waiting for the orange line headed to vienna at metro center. This was Tuesday afternoon at 2pm. I was playing solitaire on my phone, not really paying attention to what was going on around me. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a man, about 5’10” wearing a white t-shirt tucked into black gym shorts wearing a backpack. I noticed him because he was standing closer than most people do. I saw a jacking off type motion out of the corner of my eye, but wasn’t sure that is what I was seeing so didn’t look over.

When the train arrived I hurried toward the front of the car to sit down. A man came and sat down beside me. I thought it might have been the same man but I wasn’t sure. When a similar motion caught my eye again I looked down and realized his penis was outside of his shorts and he was using a grey sweatshirt to prevent other passengers (other than me) to see what he was doing. I took a minute to think of what to do – snap a picture, no because I don’t know how to turn off the picture taking sound on my phone – say something? no, what if he is a psyco, plus bad shit happens to people all the time when they say the wrong thing to the wrong person – even if there are many others around. I picked a third option – I got up, walked around him (luckily I was in the seat with no seats in front of it) and took a seat next to a woman.

I feel bad because by not saying anything I may have made him more likely to do this to another woman, but at the same time someone who would do this clearly has limited sense of propriety. I wanted to post to Holla Back DC! to at least have my experience documented or recognized in some way. Unfortunately this is the second time I have had to post.

Submitted by eg on 5/4/2010

Location: Orange Line headed to Vienna – Both the harasser and I got on at Metro Center

Do you have a personal experience with gender-based public sexual harassment or assault you would like to submit? Just click here and fill out the online submission form. All submissions are posted anonymously unless you specify.