The Mexico City government has joined forces with United Nations Woman to combat sexual violence against women by creating a “for men only” subway seat, which resembles the torso and genitals of a naked man.
The aim of the seat and asking only men to use it is to illustrate what women experience when on their daily commutes on crowded train cars when men intentionally get to close to them.
Underneath the seat, is a sign that says, in Spanish: “It’s uncomfortable to sit here, but it’s nothing compared to the sexual violence suffered by women on their daily commutes”.
This seat is part of a joint campaign, titled “No Es De Hombres” (roughly translated to “that’s not manly”) to highlight and tackle the problem of sexual harassment in the subway and show men what women experience when on public transport.
As part of the campaign, a video was released on YouTube, titled “Experimento Asiento” (“Seat Experiment”) showing commuters reactions to the seat and ending with a slide saying, “Nine out of 10 women in Mexico City have been victims of some form of sexual violence in their daily commutes” and has been viewed over 2 million times on YouTube.
