Women: get to the back of the bus.
October 20, 2011 11:18 AM   Subscribe

This post was deleted for the following reason: single link gothamist outragefilter. Maybe someone can make a balanced post about this that isn't just this? Thank you. -- jessamyn



 
...and then the NYC Department of Transportation warned them that it was unacceptable, illegal, and could lead to termination of the private bus company's franchise agreement. Unless the bus company wins a lawsuit giving it the right to discriminate against women (extremely unlikely), this boils down to "some people were jerks, but the system appears to be fixing the problem."
posted by jedicus at 11:24 AM on October 20, 2011 [7 favorites]


Oy.
posted by jonmc at 11:26 AM on October 20, 2011


I think it's important to note that the discrimination against women came at the hands of the passengers, not the bus driver. The bus driver 'merely' chose not to intervene.

Whether the bus service itself has a positive duty to intervene against discrimination among its riders -- I have no idea.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:27 AM on October 20, 2011


Orthodoxes gonna orthodox...
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:29 AM on October 20, 2011 [3 favorites]


Hey guys, don't stop reading the US Constitution before you get to the Amendments, they're the good bits! Sure, the state can't force your religion on others, but look down!, you get guns and slaves!
posted by Jehan at 11:29 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]


Correction -- in the incident in the Post, it appears that it was indeed the driver. That was a separate incident than the one I'd already read about. My apologies.
posted by Capt. Renault at 11:29 AM on October 20, 2011


I think it's important to note that the discrimination against women came at the hands of the passengers, not the bus driver. The bus driver 'merely' chose not to intervene.

That's not the case at all. The letter in the article references a second event where the driver was the instigator and informed the passenger that the front seats were reserved for men.
posted by WinnipegDragon at 11:29 AM on October 20, 2011


I think it's important to note that the discrimination against women came at the hands of the passengers, not the bus driver.

Not so: "A female Post reporter had a similar experience when she sat in the front of the B110, where signs written in Hebrew and English also direct women to use the back door during busy times." The same Post reporter was directed by the driver to sit in the back, per the NYC DOT letter.
posted by jedicus at 11:30 AM on October 20, 2011


Unfortunately, nothing is going to change except for the 2-3 non-Hasidic people per annum who need to get from Boro Park to that part of WIlliamsburg get to ride wherever they like while getting gaped at by children. The city can only tell the bus driver to not encourage it because god forbid they call upon the shitstorm that will happen if they try to tell the Hasidic community how to treat their memebrs.
posted by griphus at 11:30 AM on October 20, 2011 [1 favorite]


There are tons of private buses and shuttles that don't have contracts with the city that serve only the Hasidic population. They should switch to those or run the one that is city-supported to city-standards.

I also find it quite amusing that conservatives are often up in arms about Sharia law in Canada/US/Europe but don't seem alarmed by nearly identical Orthodox Jewish systems.
posted by melissam at 11:31 AM on October 20, 2011 [3 favorites]


I'm not sure why the bus company "may" have their agreement cancelled. Making a certain group of people sit in the back of the bus is a discrimination cliche. This is outrageous bigotry.
posted by Nahum Tate at 11:33 AM on October 20, 2011


I also find it quite amusing that conservatives are often up in arms about Sharia law in Canada/US/Europe but don't seem alarmed by nearly identical Orthodox Jewish systems.

Well, the big difference is with the Sharia threat is the belief that Sharia law will be imposed on Wholesome Americans From Real America. Hasidics live in, for all intents and purposes, a completely parallel universe to even the Not America that is New York City. They are completely indifferent to everyone else -- you try converting to Hasidic Judaism, see how many years that takes -- unless they try to make a bike path or something.
posted by griphus at 11:33 AM on October 20, 2011 [2 favorites]


When I was in high school my buddies and I decided that 'orthodox' (or 'ortho' for short) would be a really good derogatory catch-all:

"Man, this class is sooo ortho".
"Totally"

It stuck for a while.
posted by jimmythefish at 11:34 AM on October 20, 2011


(er, Hasids, not Hasidics.)
posted by griphus at 11:35 AM on October 20, 2011


jimmythefish, that's pretty meta, or para, I'm not sure which.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 11:35 AM on October 20, 2011


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