In an attempt to tackle the sexual harassment many women receive on public transport in France, feminist group Osez le Féminisme (Dare Feminism) launched a campaign to Take Back the Metro.
Ce soir la #teamzerorelou @stophdr a fait de la #ligne3 une #zonesansrelou ! #stopharcèlementderue #takebackthemetro
Side note: Olga Volfson, shown in the tweet above, does not work for "Osez le Féminisme". She told BuzzFeed News that she is working with an another non profit that fights against street harassment, "Stop Harcèlement de Rue."
"We too, take action in the subway wearing masks," she said. "I used their hashtag because we are fighting for the same cause but we are different organisations."
For the campaign, the women (shown below) plaster posters with anti-harassment messages on to trains.
Ce soir des militantes de Paris on fait une #teufsdemeufs dans le #metro pour le lancement de #takebackthemetro
The group hope that their posters will "expose the insecurity of women in public spaces and especially on public transport" and symbolically reclaim the spaces.
The messages on the posters include: "Spreading your legs is not necessary."
"In case of sexual harassment", pull the emergency alarm.
"Do not rub yourself against your neighbour" when the train is crowded.
And one that warns men that they will be slapped if they put their hand on a woman's bum.
The signs have been spotted, snapped, and tweeted by Parisian commuters.
#TakeBackTheMetro ligne 14
The campaign, which was launched in Paris last Friday, aims to raise awareness of the sexual harassment many women receive on the Métro.
French blog Radio France Internationale spoke to Osez le Féminisme member Anne-Cécile Mailfert, who said: "When you are a woman on the subway in Paris, you are often the victim of different types of sexual aggression. ... We have done a study in the Métro this summer in Paris, and the study showed that three out of four women were adapting their behaviour or their clothes and their way of dressing when they were going to take the Métro."
The feminist group say that their name is inspired by the Take Back the Night protests that began in the US in the 70s, which asserted women's "right to use public spaces without fear of sexual harassment or sexual assault".
On their website, they state shocking statistics from a recent survey on sexual harassment on the Paris Métro:
According to a survey conducted in July 2014 in the Paris Métro, 94% of 150 women surveyed reported having ever experienced sexist behaviour, wheezing sexual assault. For fear of assault, nearly three-quarters of them adapt their behavior or their clothing when they are in the subway.
The group say they are disappointed by the lack of action being taken by the government to tackle the issue, despite the public debate on street harassment.
They also demand that carriers "conduct prevention and fight against gender-based violence".