Most people remember all too well the 2012 gang rape and eventual murder that took the life of a 23-year old women in Southern New Delhi. But that kind of thing doesn’t happen in the United States. We have safe public transportation….right?

Wrong. 

On Monday Night, Meredith Yayanos was physically threatened while waiting for a bus in San Francisco, and rather than finding assurance once the bus finally arrived, the bus driver sided with her assailant. 

“This man just threatened to rape and beat me and started to expose himself, please don’t let him on,” Yayanos begged. 

In her vivid tumblr post describing the horrific incident, Yayanos went on to explain, “I again asked the bus driver to either get him off the bus or call the cops. The bus driver refused to do either, and then, as I watched, he laughed good-naturedly along with my harasser and *actually shook his hand* when the harasser reached over.”

Her post, now taking the internet by storm, describes how her assailant and that apathetic bus driver “appeared to share a moment of connection over my perceived overreaction. The implication being, I guess, that my response to threats of rape and a beating from a stranger while minding my own business alone at a bus stop in the middle of the night was somehow racist…. I sat there, in shock, while my harasser continued to yell threats and insults at me from the rear of the bus.”

The Golden Gate Bus company responded to the complaint that Yayanos proceeded to file, saying “We are listening and are investigating the matter at the highest level of our organization.”

Yet, this sort of sexual harassment is an all too common phenomenon. 

During a mere two years, the Everyday Sexism Project has collected over 50,000 stories of sexual harassment and discrimination—from men and women alike. 

One submission by an author named Sophie reads, “When I was 15, I had a man follow me in the street who eventually asked me if I wanted to be a prostitute. When I was 19, I let a friend stay round my house overnight, I woke up to find him in my bed with his hand down my pants. When I was 26, I had a car with two men follow me as I walked home in broad daylight who kept asking me to get into the car. There have been many comments thrown my way throughout my life. Although these incidents have felt degrading and in one case absolutely violated, I've accepted them as some kind of ‘norm.’”

Earlier that day, an author named Jack wrote in, “Contrary to popular belief, my name is not 'hot' 'cute' 'sexy' or 'yum.'”

Clearly men, women, and children continue to be hurt by gross assumptions people hold about how to treat fellow human beings. If people are getting violated on a daily basis at workplace, city streets, and even their own homes, clearly we are doing something grossly wrong. 

Who would choose to bring their son or daughter into a world where every corner they turn is wrought with danger, discrimination, violence. 

College campuses should be a place that endorses freedom of expression and Los Angeles should be a center of multicultural acceptance, but a social experiment by college students at University of Southern California shows, this is too rarely the case. 

Student activists verbally harassed women in hijabs to try to elicit responses from fellow students, but “after 2 hours of filming our spirits were shattered as only two people came up to us,” wrote the experimenters. “The video then became something so much more as it showed us the state of the nation we live in.”

So this holiday season donate cans, give away free books, but also raise your voices. If we want to put an end to discrimination and harassment, there is only so much policymakers can do to help. The action needs to stem from you. 

The next time you see someone getting harassed—for their race, income level, gender, sexual orientation, or anything else—speak up. Raise your voice; see if others will catch on. Just don’t let it continue. If “lazy” millennials are the “me, me, me” generation, at least we should be able to know that the change needs to come from us. 

 

Contact Contributor Sara Newman here and follow her on Twitter.