Staring on public transport: 'His eyes were glued on me'

A poster campaign has drawn attention to the issue of "intrusive staring" on public transport, warning travellers it can constitute sexual harassment. Those affected describe being watched by a stranger as a distressing experience.

Bex, from east London, was travelling home on the Tube from a night at the theatre when a man sitting opposite her began staring.

The stranger looked directly at her throughout the 10-minute journey, she says.

"I was on my phone trying to look anywhere but at him."

By the time she reached her stop, she had been made to feel so uncomfortable by his persistent staring that she waited until the last minute to stand up.

As she got off, he followed, so she decided to wait on the station concourse for five minutes before boarding her bus. He stood, less than a metre away, looking.

After several trains came and left without the man getting on, she "bolted" for the stairs.

"I turned around and he was just waving at me," she says.

Bex had initially worried she was "overreacting", but says that, ironically, one of the new anti-staring posters was placed right above where the man was sitting in the carriage.

"Seeing that made me feel, 'I have a right to feel comfortable'".

The campaign was launched nationwide last year by the Rail Delivery Group and British Transport Police (BTP), and later by Transport for London (TfL)

The posters cover a number of unwanted behaviours: catcalling, exposing body parts, inappropriate touching, upskirting, cyber flashing (the sending of sexual images), and staring.

In recent weeks the staring posters have been put into the spotlight after a man was jailed for staring at a woman on a train between Reading and Newbury, and blocking her exit.

He was found guilty of causing intentional harassment, alarm or distress - and was sentenced to 22 weeks in prison.

Staring is not illegal - but intrusive staring of a sexual nature that causes harassment, alarm or distress can be classed as a Public Order Offence.

On 22 April, British Transport Police tweeted that officers in north London had arrested a man who pressed himself against a woman on a train. They had been following the man because they noticed he was "closely watching" female passengers.

Research commissioned by TfL showed intrusive staring is one of the most common types of unwanted sexual behaviour experienced mainly, but not exclusively, by women.

Lucy Thorburn, from Manchester, was on a train in central London around 09:00 in the morning when she experienced unwanted and intrusive staring.

She says for the duration of her 25-minute journey a man had his "eyes glued on [her]".

"After 10 minutes I began to really feel uncomfortable. I thought maybe my music was loud so I turned it down. [But] I knew subconsciously it wasn't as the Tube was busy and he was the only one looking."

Lucy considered getting off, but had to make a connecting train. "Why should I leave because of him?" she asks.

"Staring might not seem 'that bad' to some, but it is the start of something… I have been stared at before and then it has led to being followed."

Dr Fiona Vera-Gray from London Metropolitan University's Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, says intrusive staring has come up in her work as a subtle form of "public sexual harassment".

"It is that sense of being under surveillance, watched, evaluated - but also it's an experience of dehumanisation.

"It creates a form of bodily self-consciousness, where women have spoken about suddenly feeling incredibly aware of how they are sitting, what their face is doing, how their hands are, how they're walking - feeling acutely aware of themselves in the world."

Bex says there is a clear difference "between someone [who is] people-watching and somebody looking and staring at you".

Jamie Klingler of Reclaim These Streets agrees: "We've all been caught admiring someone's shoes or outfit... but it is the act of staring with intent, which makes [a victim] want to change [their] behaviour, that the posters are trying to tackle."

The University of Kent's Dr Afroditi Pina says the fact staring "can cause such deep anxiety and fear should be enough for [those watching others] to wish to abstain from doing it".

A British Transport Police spokesperson said it was a priority to "drive out" all forms of sexual harassment on the train network, and that all reported incidents would be recorded to help build a picture of offending behaviour.