Aminah Tittle finds joy in dressing up with her friends and spending college nights exploring Philadelphia. But when she takes the subway, Tittle’s night can easily turn from fun with friends to being stalked and harassed.
“I try to not say anything, but it usually brings [men] towards us even more,” said Tittle, a junior community development major. “And then they end up getting off at the same stop as us. Sometimes, they start following us and it’s honestly pretty scary. I don’t like it at all. I usually have my headphones on most of the time, but that also doesn’t keep them away.”
Temple students’ proximity to the Broad Street Line makes it accessible to venture into the city, but like dozens of other female students, Tittle’s fear of being followed or stalked has forced her to resort to Uber as her mode of transportation to avoid being “cat-called.”
Sammy Espinal, a sophomore marketing major, agrees that students can’t fully reap the benefits of Philadelphia’s public transportation and shares the same fears as Tittle. In turn, her bank account takes a hit by using Uber, she said.
“One Uber somewhere could rack up to what, like $20, $25,” Espinal said. “And you have to do that if you’re going out every night, Thursday through Saturday, and it adds up, there and back. You can’t just take, like, a $2 train, you know?”
In a mission to combat sexual violence, Student Activists Against Sexual Assault collaborated with Uber last year to earn a $350,000 grant for ride vouchers for Temple students in unsafe situations. The free rides spanned nine-and-a-half miles from Main Campus and ensured accessibility to most parts of Philadelphia and even parts of New Jersey. The vouchers expired at the end of 2023, leaving students at a loss yet again.
Tittle, Espinal and dozens of other students’ hesitancy to utilize Philly’s public transportation is validated by a large number of assaults and harassment reported on SEPTA in recent years. In 2021, a woman was raped around 11 p.m. on the Market-Frankford Line, while passengers sat beside her in horror — no one called 911.
The lack of protection from fellow subway riders is another safety concern that doesn’t go unnoticed by Temple students, and the issue seems to increase significantly at night. Michaela Bonamy, a senior biochemistry major, thinks the reason cat-callers become more aggressive at night is due to a lack of bystanders.
“They think that they’re not gonna get someone standing up for you,” Bonamy said. “I guess that makes [stalkers] feel more brave, just be like, hey, no one’s gonna stop me.”
Some students who have witnessed crimes on public transit find it difficult to decipher when it is safe to speak up — fearing the situation could become worse if someone intervenes.
“I don’t know where [men] are at, or what they have,” said Jonah Frankel, a junior psychology major. “I feel like talking back in a situation can kind of just like trigger a more heated situation, and perhaps maybe even make it more engaged or dangerous.
Frankel’s fear of violence after speaking up for his friends stems from not knowing who might have a weapon and who doesn’t. Around 40% of Pennsylvanians in 2021 owned at least one firearm in their home, CBS News reported. The state is ranked fifth highest in gun license ownership in the country with about 348,000 licensees.
Choosing how to interact with negative behavior is another dilemma that students navigate. Through her experience in Philly, Tittle knows that her reaction to a cat-caller could result in ongoing ramifications.
“Usually not responding at all, usually makes them pretty annoyed and like, that’s like, when they start saying things even louder,” Tittle said. “But then saying, ‘Oh, thank you so much. Have a good day’. And just like, ending conversation gets like, ‘Okay, thank you beautiful’. And they just move on. But usually, if you just don’t say anything, they’re definitely chasing after you afterward.”
While some students remain quiet, others feel a responsibility to let cat-callers know their behavior is unacceptable. Although aware of the risks of speaking up, some find security and feel like they’re protecting themselves by putting a stop to the harassment.
“I usually just go with saying nothing,” Bonamy said. “But then if someone says something really outlandish, I’ll verbalize my disgust. And that usually leads to, ‘Well, f–k you too.’”
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