Opinion: Women Blamed While Men Throw Punches in NYC
Recently multiple women have taken to social media to recount experiences of being punched by men in broad daylight around downtown Manhattan. NYU’s response was disappointing.
By: Mehr Kotval
In past weeks, a disturbing trend has emerged on the streets of New York City: men punching unsuspecting women in the face. This has led to several injuries and traumas for the women involved, including a woman being left with a broken jaw, missing teeth, and permanent nerve damage after being punched on her way home from work. Even an NYU administrator was a victim of one of these assaults. Understandably, many young women in Lower Manhattan, including women students and faculty at NYU, are worried for their safety.
On March 25th, Halley Kate Mcgookin said in a video posted to TikTok, “You guys, I was literally just walking, and a man came up and punched me in the face.” This video, unfortunately, was not one of a kind. It brought to light similar videos and accounts from women of being assaulted in downtown Manhattan by men on the street.
Perhaps equally disturbing is the media’s tendency to spotlight preventive measures that women can take to safeguard themselves against these attacks- which sends a troubling message. While self-defense tactics and situational awareness are undoubtedly important, they should not be the primary focus of the conversation.
NYU sent out an email response in light of this trend. NYU’s recommendation to students was for them to pay “additional attention to your surroundings as you navigate the city on foot, whether it is near campus or in other neighborhoods.” Following that recommendation advice mirrors the advice women have heard ad nauseam throughout their lives, such as staying off your phone, only keeping one earbud in, and stepping into a safe location if help is needed.
The reality is such random attacks are hardly “preventable,” and when we suggest they are, we only hurt the victim. This is not a situation where we should be assessing contributory negligence, such as a car accident. These are deliberate attacks. When we place the responsibility on victims to prevent attacks, we inadvertently absolve the perpetrators of responsibility for their actions and shift the blame for these occurrences on victims themselves.
“I was not on my phone. I was walking somewhere, and I got attacked from behind,” told Sarah Suzuki Harvard to NBC News, who posted Tuesday on X that she was punched in the back of the head on March 19th near Delancey Street and Essex Street, “it’s really violating that I didn’t see it coming, and there was nothing I could’ve done, really, to prevent it from happening.”
Regrettably, women like Sarah have also encountered skepticism and interrogation following their posts.
On March 17th, another woman who posted about her assault on TikTok, Olivia Brand, said in an update, “I wasn’t looking down at my phone. I was just literally across the street from my building, walking my dog to the dog park. I had seen the man. He was, like, slightly walking toward me, and I didn’t think anything of it. And then he says, ‘Sorry,’ and hits me and was immediately gone.” This response came after facing questions such as why she didn’t retaliate or why she didn’t appear visibly upset when recording, as well as assumptions about her phone usage during the incident. It’s absurd that victims are expected to exonerate themselves from blame for their own assault by responding to these inquiries framed around the concept of a “perfect victim.”
Incidents of extreme violence do not occur because women are careless or inattentive; they occur because perpetrators know they can dodge the spotlight. When attacks on women are allowed to go under-investigated and unpunished, it creates a culture of impunity that enables perpetrators to act without fear of consequences.
Instead of dissecting the behaviors of women walking down the street, we should be spotlighting the way we let misogyny and entitlement fester into violent behaviors and how we are going to confront that ugly reality head-on. Women should not bear the burden of stopping male violence. “What’s really unbearable is that general never-ending feeling now of feeling unsafe and feeling constantly alert, constantly looking over my shoulder,” Harvard said.
NYU should shift its focus from asking “what can victims do” to asking “What can we do to prevent people from becoming perpetrators?”, “How can we hold perpetrators of violence accountable?” and “How do we support survivors and create a safe, empowering community?”
As NYU’s campus is located in the area where most of these recent assaults occurred, they have a responsibility to not only implement measures to prevent such incidents but also actively address the underlying issues that contribute to them. NYU’s responses to surges of violence like these need to transcend a mere three-point list of rules for potential victims to adhere to.
They should reaffirm their commitment to promoting consent, safety, and bodily autonomy while unequivocally condemning the reprehensible actions of those prone to violence. They should state the consequences of such actions if the perpetrator should be affiliated with NYU. These steps encompass updating and reconstructing the university’s sexual violence training programs to be more inclusive, age-appropriate, and effective. Additionally, making resources for survivors more accessible and responsive to their needs is crucial. Women would undoubtedly find greater comfort if institutions responded to these situations by reaffirming their rights and expressing unwavering determination to eradicate such violence.
