Ads target sexual harassment on CTA

The CTA has new anti-sexual harassment ads up in trains and buses, thanks to the efforts of a group of young Rogers Park women who have campaigned against unwanted touching and rude comments on the transit system.

The ads build on the "If You See Something, Say Something" campaign already in place, according to CTA spokeswoman Sheila Gregory.

The ads, which have been up for a couple of weeks, tell women that"If it's unwanted, it's harassment" and advises riders to alert a CTA employee immediately if someone bothers them. CTA operators are supposed to tell an offender to stop, and if the offender doesn't, the operator must call the CTA Control Center for further action, which may include calling the police.

"An important part of improving safety and security on the system is knowing when, where and how often these types of violations occur so the campaign is intended to help reinforce the importance of reporting incidents," Gregory said.

The ads are in response to a request from the Rogers Park Young Women's Action Team (YWAT) that surveyed CTA riders and found that half had been sexually harassed on the system, and 13 percent had been assaulted.