http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/downloads/pdf/press-releases/tube-tips-for-women.pdf
I just read about this in The Guardian. The government/London Underground has issued a leaflet called “Tube Tips For Women.” You’ll love this, girls. Look at all the lipstick bullet points and all that pinkness! Buy a “baby on board” badge to wear to get passengers to give up their seats for you! Avoid fainting by carrying a cereal bar that will fit into the tiniest handbag! Find out how to avoid a twisted ankle even when wearing your party shoes! Be alert to the possibility of the tube rocking you to sleep!
It’s both outrageous and hilarious at the same time - quite an achievement.
What a strange thing ! They make a lot of good points, although I think many would apply to men just as well, but whoever designed it certainly does seem to be living in the 50’s or something—it seems addressed to some other world entirely. Do women really have more problems? Maybe we do. “A surprising number of people faint during the morning rush hour…”—so I guess more of these unfortunate people are women than men? I have to admit, I am surprised that a surprising number of people are fainting. I would think a woman less likely to doze off on the train than a man because she would be more on guard. I want to see some statistics here! I can imagine more women spraining their ankles. I’d think any man would want to know where to find help–they get attacked too. Maybe they know men won’t read instructions so they are trying to improve things by at least encouraging the women to eat breakfast and not doze off.
I’ve witnessed two people fainting on tubes, one man and one woman. It’s not uncommon in the hectic lifestyle forced on many office workers, to spend an hour in the gym before going to work, skipping breakfast, and then get stuck standing in a stuffy airless carriage. If you watch people closely you can spot when they’re about to topple. I think women are more likely to skip breakfast for dieting purposes, so yes, I suspect more women faint than men.
I’m a little suprised they don’t suggest carrying a rape-alarm. They are certainly likely to attract attention if they go off.
I have to say that I have only known women to faint . But I’ve only witnessed one fainting and the other was me when I was little a couple of times. Your reasoning makes sense though.
About the instructions, I can only say that you are obviously not in possession of a husband!!
See how peacefully these women are sleeping in the Women Only car? That’s because they feel safe! I guess having seating for women only does raise questions but, having been groped a few times when I was much younger, I can say it is very appealing. Even with the pink signs.
I thought he’d spelled it correctly, as “tips,” but couldn’t figure out why women would need the tips of tubes, or what kind of tips from what sort of tubes they’d need, and then I decided it must be some kind of cake decorating thing from England . . .
Okay. You know all the insane instructions they have on things nowdays? Like a ladder, say----don’t swing it around if people are standing there, don’t set it on a live wire, don’t stand on the very top rung, don’t set it up in quicksand, etc. Well, it isn’t women that did all these nutty things, they rarely use a ladder. So if men had read and followed the simple ladder instructions in the first place, all these accidents wouldn’t have happened making the insane instructions necessary for lawsuit purposes. There!
