A poster campaign has been launched to raise awareness of the problem of "intrusive gazing" on public transportation, warning that it can lead to sexual harassment. Being observed by a stranger is an unpleasant experience for those who have been impacted.
Bex, from east London, was riding the Tube home after a night at the theatre when she saw a man looking at her from across the carriage.
She claims that the guy stared her down the whole 10-minute ride.
"I was on my phone, trying not to look at him."
She had been made so uncomfortable by his constant looking by the time she arrived at her stop that she waited until the last possible moment to stand up.
He followed her off the bus, so she decided to wait five minutes on the station concourse before boarding her bus. He looked from a distance of less than a meter.
She "bolted" towards the stairwell after many trains arrived and went without the man getting on.
She says, "I turned around and he was simply waving at me." Bex was originally concerned that she was "overreacting," but she claims that one of the new anti-staring signs was ironically positioned directly over the man's seat in the carriage.
"Seeing it made me think, 'I have a right to be at ease.'"
'Intentional harassment' is a term used to describe harassment that is done on purpose.
Last year, the Rail Delivery Group and British Transport Police (BTP) started a countrywide campaign, which was later joined by Transport for London (TfL)
Catcalling, exposing body parts, improper touching, upskirting, cyber flashing (the sharing of pornographic photographs), and gazing are among the behaviors addressed on the posters.
After a man was convicted for gazing at a lady on a train between Reading and Newbury and impeding her escape, the staring posters have been thrust into the limelight in recent weeks.
He was sentenced to 22 weeks in jail after being found guilty of inflicting deliberate annoyance, alarm, or distress.
Although gazing is not criminal, invasive sexual staring that causes harassment, alarm, or discomfort can be classified as a Public Order Offense.
British Transport Police tweeted on April 22 that police in north London had detained a man who pushed a lady on a train. They were following the man because he appeared to be "closely monitoring" female passengers.
According to TfL-commissioned research, intrusive gazing is one of the most prevalent kinds of unwelcome sexual behaviour reported mostly by women, but not entirely.