I had my first Manhattan apartment well over a decade ago on 90th and Central Park West that I shared with another girl, we were just entering drinking age and both waited tables at Houlihan’s on 59th and 5th.
When not slinging beers for the 5th Avenue elite in need of a quick burger and brew, our evenings were spent trolling New York’s bar scene. I was single back then, and while never naïve my friends and I were slightly carless with our attire, showing more skin then maybe I would now and characteristically unconcerned with the “what if’s” that living in the city held for young attractive women.
We knew to walk fast looking straight ahead with purpose, and a lot of us attached pepper spray to our key chains, come to think of it you don’t see that so much anymore. Hmmmm?
The one common thread though stringing us all together was the subway flasher. We’d all seen one at some point. The lone man sitting across from you, full car or empty, afternoon or night, he’d stare at you just long enough for you to notice and when you did there it was, his exposed member glowing beneath the fluorescent bulbs. Some stories are more horrible than others and I am happy to say that that mine went pretty much as I just described it. Not pleasant, yet hardly traumatic. But there are men who have done unspeakable things on a busy subway when fronts are pressed to backs and well, let’s just say they, left their mark on an unsuspecting female.
Yes, that is correct.
So this supposed new string of flashers has grabbed the attention of a city and perhaps that has made it front-page news but I promise you this is nothing new. The only difference now is the invention of the camera phone so flashers beware. If you wish to be spared the embarrassment of the world knowing what New York women have known for years. Keep it in your pants.
And ladies, I’m beginning to see a light at the end of the flasher subway tunnel.
☺
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
While I don’t live in the City, I do read the major papers there daily. I applaud the ladies who ever more frequently have the presence of mind to snap a pic of subway pervs. Turnabout is fair play. I enjoy seeing some miscreant’s photo splashed across the pages of the Daily News and the NY Post — only to be arrested a few days later.
A few weenie wagger cases will forever stand out in my mind for their humorous aspects (note that nobody was hurt). Laughter is a good thing, even in the darkest of circumstances. Without a sense of humor, you’re sunk.
My new all time favorite occurred just last month. A gent named Kevin Bishop was busy…ummm…”pleasuring himself” — as some news outlets delicately put it — when he was photographed and then picked up a few days later. Mr. Bishop is such a complete moron that you have to laugh. He told the police and then the judge:
“I deeply apologize for what happened,” Bishop told police, according to the court documents. “I do admit the whole truth.”…”That’s me in the pictures, my private parts fell out,” Bishop told cops, according to court documents. “I looked down and it was out, it just popped out. I was trying to put it back.”
WTF?! LOL. This is so ridiculous that the offender should be locked up for terminal stupidity.
Now, I’ve been known to have a dollar bill I stuffed in my pocket fall out. I’ve even had some groceries fall out of an overstuffed bag. But how in the hell does a wily weenie unzip a man’s pants and fall out unbeknownst to him? It boggles the mind.
BTW, Kevin was on parole when this happened and supposedly was “getting ready” to enter drug rehab. He also has 54 arrests on his rap sheet. Oy vey. Kevin Smith is a future Darwin Award winner if there ever was one. Good. Hasta la vista, Kevin. Don’t let the door hit you in the @$$ on the way out!
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/08/14/2009-08-14_subway_pervs_defense_to_cops_my_private_parts_fell_out.html
“left their mark on an unsuspecting female”
Huh?
no subways in Albuquerque, the flashers go to parks and schoolyards. Many are never seen again.