*than

I've always suspected that women have all the fun in life.

Creeps and childbirth.

Meh.

so does this mean they aint gonna date ?

That's a nice ass plane. Not sure what white trash was doing on that classy ass flight.

Three words: Carry. A. Gun. (and know how to use it)

So, what was she reading?

I'd expect one would meet a lot of psychos riding nearly empty trains every night. Even as a dude I wouldn't want to do that.

Stop riding the train through the ghetto at midnight wearing a hooker's uniform and maybe you won't get harassed so much.

Sounds like it's time for someone to get a car.

I suppose the irony here is that for someone who engages in a routine to not be bothered seems to attract attention - maybe it's perceived as a challenge. I'm not going full Rush on this or anything, but I wonder if she would care to experiment with boarding said metro with a positive attitude, not seething with some some pseudo-hatred in her seat as she pretends to be Jason Bourne behind her paperback. I have never seen an outwardly positive female - regardless of appearance - be assaulted as such. It's ALWAYS the quiet ones.

I will say this - it stirred up the harpies - look at the comments. Very few clocking in at less than 4 paragraphs.

/in before the "it's hard to be a man/ever get accused of rape" comments

liam76: So, what was she reading?

My Mother is a Filthy Whore and so am I

It's LA. Normal people drive here.

You want to save the planet by taking the train. That's nice. How about saving yourself & driving your own car?

It's best just to skip these threads -- nothing good can come from them.

I think Bicycle Man was crazy. I don't think she made him crazy. I think he was going to go off regardless of who or what was on that train. On and on, over and over, he screamed at me, screamed at his dead mother, screamed at me again..

I was attacked by a man who was literally insane (thought the stars and planes were attacking him so he decided to run me over.)

I don't generalize from literally insane asshole to all men are crazy bastards trying to kill me.

My ex wife IS trying to kill me, and again, I try to refrain from generalizing from that to all women are trying to kill me.

The three kids on the train who looked eighteen were probably assholes and I am sure women have to deal with a lot of assholes and the behavior of the three kids is the basis for generalizing on the assholes in society.

But Bicycle Man? He was insane and not a good data point. On and on, over and over, he screamed at me, screamed at his dead mother, screamed at me again..

Regardless, this is a good article for Jezebel to use to point out the misogyny in society so it's all good. On and on, over and over, he screamed at me, screamed at his dead mother, screamed at me again..

Tsu-na-mi: Three words: Carry. A. Gun. (and know how to use it)

FTFA: "I often ride the Metro when I commute from North Hollywood to Long Beach..."

Your suggesting would make plenty of sense if she didn't live in California, where firearm owners are treated like criminals.

Incetardis: I will say this - it stirred up the harpies - look at the comments. Very few clocking in at less than 4 paragraphs.

The guy has an obvious mental disorder, but they seem to exrapolate it to everyman. I feel sorry for those lesbian whores.

CSB time! Sorry for the wall of text, but I swear to Jebus the events I'm relating to you here are 100% true. You can't make this shiat up. I have a very similar public transit story.

I'm a senior in high school and it's a gorgeous spring day. I've just gotten finished taking an AP test so I decide to blow off the rest of class and go home; at this point school is optional. My commute is pretty simple. I take the train to the bus stop and ride the bus the rest of the way home. As I'm waiting the train, there's a man in his mid twenties talking on the phone loudly about sex and his mother so I eavesdrop while I pull out my book to read.

So the train comes and I get on. I make it a point to sit by myself, headphones in, sunglasses on, and with a book out. It could not be clearer that I'm not interested in talking. A homeless man gets on the train. He's leathery and tan, shirtless, wearing a neck-kercheif and carrying a big back pack and a plastic Guitar Hero guitar; in short, he looks nuts. He sits down right in front of me and without any modicum of volume control or further introduction he says "DO YOU SEE THAT GUY? THAT GUY'S A DICK!" He's pointing at a large Pacific Islander outside the train and is trying to show me the stitches from where that man had apparently punched him a while ago. As he leans in I can smell the booze on his breath and it's only 10:30 in the morning. At his point I've taken off my headphones and am smiling and nodding. I go back to reading my book.

Again, without volume control he says "WHAT ARE YOU READING? THE KITE RUNNER? I READ THAT IN PRISON! HOLY HELL YOUR TOENAILS ARE GREEN!" I had them painted green at the time. At this point everyone in the train is slowly starting to turn around and stare at us. I've taken off my sunglasses because at this point it is futile; there's no way I can shake talking to this guy. He alternates between shouting and saying in a soft voice "Your blue eyes are so pretty. They make me want to cry." He keeps jabbering at me loudly while everyone in the train is staring. The first man, who is still on the phone, is staring too.

Now my hobo friend decides that it's a good idea to serenade me. He pulls out his Guitar Hero guitar and asks "What kind of music do you like?" "No, no, it's okay," I reply "I don't think you've probably heard of many of the artists I like". That is apparently no issue. I flush bright red as I am serenaded with 'Edelweiss' and then 'Piano Man' on a plastic guitar.

The train comes to a stop and he puts his guitar away. "I have to go get my glasses fixed", he explains. As he extends his hand he says to me "My name is Wade. It was nice to meet you". I offer my hand saying "I'm Ruth, it was nice to meet you too". Instead of shaking my hand, he kissed it, simply said "I love you" and walked off.
Now, this is one of the most surreal things that has ever happened to me and I'm giggling to myself. No one stepped in, no one interceded, everyone just watched, and that was fine. The man who was on the phone decided it was important enough to hang up and come sit next to me. I thought he was maybe going to giggle with me, or commiserate about how strange people are. No.

He pulls out his phone and says "Do you want to see a picture of him talking to you?" And it's just a picture of me, from the profile, with my hobo friend's back partially in it. I'm dumbfounded. I don't know how to respond to some stranger with a picture of me on his phone. "Where are you going?" he asks. I am totally creeped out by this point: by how close he's sitting, by how he's looking at me, the fact that he has a picture of me. "Home," I say quickly. "Do you go to the U of U?" "No. I'm in high school." "But you're a legal adult, right?" My jaw drops open. Thank god at this very moment the train has pulled up to my stop and I walk away without another word.

TL;DR: The crazy homeless man was the harmless part of this story, it was the normal looking guy who was a creeper.

This is a troll, right? The way "a real man talks to a woman on a train" consists of pledging to beat up total strangers just for speaking to her?

May I suggest moving out of California and joining the civilized society.

BumpInTheNight: Stop riding the train through the ghetto at midnight wearing a hooker's uniform and maybe you won't get harassed so much.

Even if she was dressed like a hooker, why does that give people the right to harass her? Please explain. How covered up does she have to be until she has the right to be left alone? Just checking, in case you and I ever run into one another and you don't feel I look the way I should.

Thanks!

While I can see how many women can be or are made to feel some of what the author was talking about, I think her examples are awful. She chose a complete psycho for one example (if someone starts screaming crazy shiat at a total stranger on a train, they're probably psycho) and for another she pointed out how frequently she's asked what she's reading.
Psycho boy didn't start screaming at her because she's pretty. He started screaming at her because he's a psycho, and if it hadn't been her it would have been someone else (ya know, because he's psycho).
As far as being asked about your book, it's hardly surprising someone would use that as an ice-breaker. It's an innocuous way to gauge whether the reader is open to conversation or not. Granted, it sounds like the guys she described were pretty immature, 

/not suggesting women should be harassed or have to put up with harassment.

Bonanza Jellybean: This is a troll, right? The way "a real man talks to a woman on a train" consists of pledging to beat up total strangers just for speaking to her?

The best part was how the knight found his armor AFTER the raiding party had left. How quaint. Dime-store chivalry at it's finest, and it speaks to her character if that strikes her as "manly".

You know - when I was young I always wondered why there were so many violent guys around. I couldn't turn left or right without getting into a fight just minding my own business. I gave up going out entirely because there would nearly always be a fight.

Fast forward 15 years and I now know exactly why - I am literally crazy and it is me giving off all sorts of farked up social queues whilst misreading other peoples. You get back what you give out, whether you mean to or not.

Half her commutes? Yah, that ain't normal.

Incetardis: Sounds like it's time for someone to get a car.

I suppose the irony here is that for someone who engages in a routine to not be bothered seems to attract attention - maybe it's perceived as a challenge. I'm not going full Rush on this or anything, but I wonder if she would care to experiment with boarding said metro with a positive attitude, not seething with some some pseudo-hatred in her seat as she pretends to be Jason Bourne behind her paperback. I have never seen an outwardly positive female - regardless of appearance - be assaulted as such. It's ALWAYS the quiet ones.

I will say this - it stirred up the harpies - look at the comments. Very few clocking in at less than 4 paragraphs.

/in before the "it's hard to be a man/ever get accused of rape" comments

It actually says in the article that at the end of her train ride she gets off and goes to her car. If you have a car and keep getting harassed on the train then WHY DON"T YOU JUST DRIVE YOUR CAR?

Yeah, of course there are crazy douchebags on the train. We already established this is California and in particular the worst part of California for collecting every crazy nutbag from the rest of the country. Secondly, while it shouldn't be the way that public transportation in general is viewed the fact is in that part of the world the public transport is mostly used by nuts. Anybody why can afford a car avoids public transportation because of all the crazy people.

zzrhardy: You know - when I was young I always wondered why there were so many violent guys around. I couldn't turn left or right without getting into a fight just minding my own business. I gave up going out entirely because there would nearly always be a fight.

lawlz

That will teach her to read books opened like this

I think the point of her story is:

All men are pigs, she is the queen of the universe, if you don't bow to her then you are part of the pig society.

Holy Crap ladies, you're not writing a novel, you're adding a COMMENT. Keep it short and simple that way people actually read it.

/article was dumb. Kids doing stupid kid stuff, and a mentally ill man.
//Sexy People Problems?

Now I know how poor and starving people feel when they hear rich people complaining about their problems.

Dress down. Look frumpy. Talk crazy. There are plenty of ways to get guys to leave you alone I would think.

I'd like to see how those whiny women would biatch if THEY had a need for sex that rivaled the need for food and water and to get it had to deal with a gender that is pretty much asexual.

Hacker_X: It actually says in the article that at the end of her train ride she gets off and goes to her car. If you have a car and keep getting harassed on the train then WHY DON"T YOU JUST DRIVE YOUR CAR?

Yeah, of course there are crazy douchebags on the train. We already established this is California and in particular the worst part of California for collecting every crazy nutbag from the rest of the country. Secondly, while it shouldn't be the way that public transportation in general is viewed the fact is in that part of the world the public transport is mostly used by nuts. Anybody why can afford a car avoids public transportation because of all the crazy people.

She implies some sort of save the earth pariah complex too. Yet...she has a car. Just...baffling.

What really gets me is the fake ring. The kind of honest man put off by an indication of marriage/engagement (she's alone on these trips - rather deliberately, no less) is probably the stable, respectful one that would be easiest to deal with and hell - may even help fend off the crazies. What possible purpose does that serve except to make you seem like a colossal coont?

I don't get it. For someone who wants to be isolated she very much fails at grasping the pros/cons of public transit.

But I've also had my life threatened by a deranged man....

That must mean I'm a woman. It all makes sense now.

Epilogue: Three weeks later, they were married.

Fell In Love With a Chair: BumpInTheNight: Stop riding the train through the ghetto at midnight wearing a hooker's uniform and maybe you won't get harassed so much.

Even if she was dressed like a hooker, why does that give people the right to harass her? Please explain. How covered up does she have to be until she has the right to be left alone? Just checking, in case you and I ever run into one another and you don't feel I look the way I should.

Thanks!

Pretty tired of this lame ass arguement...... if I walked through Englewood at 4:30 in the morning with $5000 bucks in my hand and get mad when someone robs me....why is it my fault ( i don't condone any of this garbage) but your excuse is hollow.

Agreed it shouldn't be this way but it is and you have to act accordingly for your own protection.

It's been a long time since I drove in LA, but I can believe that it's faster to drive to the train and take the train than it is to drive to work.

(Which is why I got a motorcycle and learned to lane split in LA before the trains were added.)

Still, the dude was crazy, not a good data point, however, this unwinona blog entry has definitely gone viral.

Bonanza Jellybean: This is a troll, right? The way "a real man talks to a woman on a train" consists of pledging to beat up total strangers just for speaking to her?

Farking this.

The whole quote FTA: As we board, the business man steps aside to let me go through the door first and asks me if those guys were bothering me. I say yes, that it happens all the time, and he tells he'll beat them up for me if they come back. He is a nice person who talks to me like I'm a human being instead of a walking pair of tits, and I make a mental note: This is how a real man talks to a woman on a train.

Not to belittle the experience of the author, but that is a farking sociopathic view of the world.

Ok, I don't think of myself as that attractive, (not hideous, mind you) but when I rode the train in L.A. I had the same problem...people are just farking nuts over there. As sexist as it sounds...might be best to try to take a friend with you if you have to use public transport. Safety in numbers and all that.

It's a lot more common than y'all want to admit -- she's right.

I don't live in LA, am not "pretty," do not "dress like a ho," -- heck, I am a middle-aged college professor in the Midwest -- and I cannot walk half a mile down the street to the grocery store, along a main street between two nice but not ritzy neighborhoods, without being propositioned half a dozen times from moving vehicles.

It's like guys have a neuron that says: woman walking by herself ----> demand blow job.

I recently had an opportunity to talk to the city planner's office about neighborhood issues, and the subjects of "walkability" and public transportation came up. Frankly, we are never going to have these things because women, who are half the population, won't use them. And they won't use them because of the total lack even baseline civilized behavior.

Chicks, man.

Ok, this is the clear winner from the comments:

"The people busting out the "well, maybe guys wouldn't get mad at you if you were nicer to them" responses can't see the forest for the trees...

Think about it: Picture a woman approaching a man on the bus, asking what he was reading, and being rebuffed with a phrase like "I'm sorry, I would really just like to read my book now." Can anyone seriously imagine that woman responding not by feeling hurt and leaving him alone, or maybe saying "whatever, asshole" before leaving him alone, but by screaming at the top of her lungs that she would kill him if she had the chance? Unless she's a crackhead or something? And yet, pretty much every woman I know has a similar tale of a man throwing a tantrum over being (politely!) blown off or rejected. Come on."

Out. farking. Standing. 

Blinded by her own derp.

Trapper439: Bonanza Jellybean: This is a troll, right? The way "a real man talks to a woman on a train" consists of pledging to beat up total strangers just for speaking to her?

Farking this.

The whole quote FTA: As we board, the business man steps aside to let me go through the door first and asks me if those guys were bothering me. I say yes, that it happens all the time, and he tells he'll beat them up for me if they come back. He is a nice person who talks to me like I'm a human being instead of a walking pair of tits, and I make a mental note: This is how a real man talks to a woman on a train.

Not to belittle the experience of the author, but that is a farking sociopathic view of the world.

Yeah, that guy was trying to establish exclusive breeding rights with you by demonstrating his capacity to do violence on your behalf since woman lack the upper body strength to adequately fend for themselves.

On the one hand, I understand her desire and right to be left alone. On the other hand, isn't striking up a conversation with an attractive person an acceptable way to meet potential dates/mates?

If you wouldn't have been there that night, none of this would have happened to you.

BumpInTheNight: Stop riding the train through the ghetto at midnight wearing a hooker's uniform and maybe you won't get harassed so much.

You could be a judge in AZ, you know!

Cincinnati Kid: On the one hand, I understand her desire and right to be left alone. On the other hand, isn't striking up a conversation with an attractive person an acceptable way to meet potential dates/mates?

I think that's why she wears a wedding ring. That should signal that she's not a potential date.

spentshells: Fell In Love With a Chair: BumpInTheNight: Stop riding the train through the ghetto at midnight wearing a hooker's uniform and maybe you won't get harassed so much.

Even if she was dressed like a hooker, why does that give people the right to harass her? Please explain. How covered up does she have to be until she has the right to be left alone? Just checking, in case you and I ever run into one another and you don't feel I look the way I should.

Thanks!

Pretty tired of this lame ass arguement...... if I walked through Englewood at 4:30 in the morning with $5000 bucks in my hand and get mad when someone robs me....why is it my fault ( i don't condone any of this garbage) but your excuse is hollow.

Agreed it shouldn't be this way but it is and you have to act accordingly for your own protection.

I agree completely! However, saying things like "She shouldn't have been asking for it" deserves to be called out.

Also, she was sitting quietly reading her book, not dressed like a hooker or in a bad part of town or on a train at midnight. She was just sitting quietly. Why defend the trash that harasses her? Where does that get you? How quietly does she have to sit alone before she deserves to be left alone like she politely asked?

geek_mars: While I can see how many women can be or are made to feel some of what the author was talking about, I think her examples are awful. She chose a complete psycho for one example (if someone starts screaming crazy shiat at a total stranger on a train, they're probably psycho) and for another she pointed out how frequently she's asked what she's reading.
Psycho boy didn't start screaming at her because she's pretty. He started screaming at her because he's a psycho, and if it hadn't been her it would have been someone else (ya know, because he's psycho).
As far as being asked about your book, it's hardly surprising someone would use that as an ice-breaker. It's an innocuous way to gauge whether the reader is open to conversation or not. Granted, it sounds like the guys she described were pretty immature, 

/not suggesting women should be harassed or have to put up with harassment.

Her issue is how she acts within the environment. She needs to realize that burying her face in a book on a public train in the ghetto is not the best thing to do. Sure, she wants to read her book. But, she also wants not to be harrassed. Tough, she's going to have to choose one or the other.

Burying your face in a book in a public setting shows that you are more focused on that one thing than you are with your environment. Preditors seek vulnerability. They know they can sneek up on you and get within your personal space. You let your defenses down. Sure, it's not fair that you can't do what you want. But, you have to be the one that ensures your safety and survival. You can't go around and expect or demand that others treat you differently. "Dress like Halloween, and ghouls will want to get in your pants."