A German bus driver recently threatened to throw a woman off his bus if she didn’t move out of his eyeline, because her breasts were distracting him. The bus driver in question shouted down the bus at the unfortunate women, telling her that he couldn’t keep his eyes on the road because of the glimpse of her cleavage in his rear-view mirror. The woman, humiliated, duly moved to another seat.

So when asked about the incident, what do you think the employers of this lecherous prick said?

“We absolutely condemn the actions of this employee, and deplore that one of our customers was sexualised and humiliated in public. We wish to emphasise that it is an important pre-requisite for employment at this company that drivers retain the ability to focus on the road even when people with breasts board the vehicle. For their job is to drive, not to perv.”

As if.

What actually happened is the old boys network fully supported one of their own in his god-given right to intimidate women and assert his dominance over the public sphere. The bus company institutionalised harassment on their fleet by saying:

“The bus driver is allowed to do that, and he did the right thing […] a bus driver cannot be distracted because it is a danger to the safety of all the passengers”.

Silly harlot, putting the passengers’ safety at risk like that by getting on the bus WITH BREASTS.

I’m going to start a list of things people are not allowed to do if they are in possession of mammary tissue. So far this month:

• Sit in the eyeline of public transport operatives
  
• Be home secretary.

Please feel free to make your own additions to the list, via our comments form.

Posted by Lynne Miles on 17 July 2007, at 4:43 PM