Public Transportation, A Breeding Ground for Sexual Harassment in Public Spaces

The Safe Public Space Coalition (KRPA) released the results of its National Survey on Sexual Harassment in Public Spaces. The survey shows that public transportation is the second most common location for sexual harassment in Indonesia. The highest incidence is on public roads.

The survey data analysis by KRPA found that 46.80% of respondents reported experiencing sexual harassment on public transportation. 35.8% experienced harassment on buses, followed by angkots (minibuses) with 29.49% of respondents reporting harassment on this mode of transport. In last year's survey, KRPA found that three out of five women and one out of ten men had experienced sexual harassment in public spaces.

Harassment frequently occurring on public transportation takes various forms, including whistling, kissing sounds, body shaming comments, and explicit, sexist, and racist sexual comments. Other forms include leering, being secretly photographed, being stared at, being honked at, vulgar gestures, witnessing public masturbation, being blocked, being shown genitals, being aggressively approached, being followed/stalked, and being touched, groped, or rubbed against with genitals.