Dutch tourist Jasmijn Rijcken reported that she was biking down a Manhattan street, minding her own business, when a cop pulled her over — for wearing too short a skirt. Apparently, Rijcken’s bare legs were “distracting the cars” and “dangerous.” It seemed so absurd to be pulled over for “cycling while sexy,” Rijcken thought the officer was joking, but he became angry and demanded her ID. She went straight back to her hotel and changed into pants, covering up her “killer” legs.
As Margaret Hartmann points out at Jezebel, you’d think the NYPD would be quick to assure women that they don’t have to worry about the fashion police monitoring the length of their skirts — the last thing you want to deal with when dressing for the summer heat. After all, they’re already being scrutinized after a controversial “not-guilty” verdict that many people believe let an NYC cop get away with rape. Over 5000 Change.org members have already signed a petition started by the feminist group Permanent Wave telling the NYPD to implement comprehensive sexual assault and harassment training and a zero-tolerance policy.
Instead, this is what Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne had to say: “Whether this story bears even a modest semblance of what actually occurred is impossible to establish without being provided the purported officer’s name and getting his side of the story.” So not only is he failing to apologize for the sexual harassment, or assure women that the NYPD is not going to start acting like a Catholic school and insisting that your skirts go past your fingertips, he’s also suggesting that the complainant is a big fat liar.
Of course, it’s not exactly surprising that the officer wouldn’t give his name to the woman he was harassing — and of course he didn’t give her a ticket, despite pulling her over, because what reasonable offense would that ticket have charged her with? Rijcken deserves to have her complaint taken seriously, and regardless of what occurred, New York women deserve to hear the message that this type of behavior from a police officer would be considered inappropriate.
Here’s a suggestion for a more appropriate response. “We are deeply grieved to hear that a member of our force would harass a woman over the length of her skirt, and would like to extend a sincere apology to Ms. Rijcken. While, unfortunately, without the name of the offending officer, we cannot investigate this particular incident further, we want the women of New York to know that wearing a short skirt is not a crime — and all NYPD officers should take note that the length of a woman’s hemline doesn’t justify pulling her over.”
The NYPD clearly still has a long way to in dealing with problems of sexual assault and harassment on the force. Making sure they’re taking the right steps by adding your name to Permanent Wave’s petition.
