Women’s Minister suggests targeted adverts as deterrent to sexual harassment

Sexual harassment on the Tube could be tackled with targeted adverts, the Minister for Women has said.

Victoria Atkins also hit out at the “offensive” portrayal of women in music videos as she gave evidence to MPs on combating sexual harassment in public places.

Asked about whether the Government should launch an anti-sexual harassment campaign similar to ones targeting drink-driving, Ms Atkins (pictured) told the Commons Women and Equalities Committee that such a move could be “powerful”.

She said: “Having a campaign on the Tube carriages about ‘Please don’t think this gives you the right to grab someone’, that could be very effective because you are all standing up … pressed together, looking at the advert, you can’t avoid it.

“I’d be interested in a targeted campaign if the evidence was that that would be a good way to spend taxpayers’ money.”

The minister added: “There has been … a great deal of work done on public transport because we know, sadly, it is a place where people seem to think it’s an opportunity to behave disgustingly.”

Ms Atkins said police recorded just over 2,000 sexual offences on the London Underground network in the past year.

The minister also expressed concern about how women are portrayed in music videos.

“Look at how some women are depicted in music videos, I mean, it’s just offensive, actually.”

Ms Atkins said she was commissioning research into the impact of online porn on attitudes to women and girls.

She said: “Pornography online has exploded exponentially in the last decade and I think that is presenting us with very worrying challenges as to how women are viewed in relationships, in healthy relationships, and what boys expect of them, and what girls expect of themselves.”

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