Friday, June 26, 2009

Feminism Fridays -Oppose Septa's Gender Policy


I ride Septa (philly's public transportation system) often. I always thought the M/F stickers on the passes were totally bogus. Why is it even necessary? On top of that, clearly it is discriminatory against non-gender conforming individuals. To me, it is equivalent to putting a race sticker on there...obviously Septa wouldn't go there.
I just received this petition in my inbox that aims to end the use of these M/F stickers. This is why you might want to sign it:
  • Septa's policy requiring M F stickers on weekly and monthly passes causes harassment to gender non-conforming people
  • creates a safety risk by alerting other passengers to a rider's difference
  • creates an economic hardship for passengers who are denied use of their pass and are forced to pay additional fare.
  • ending the use of M F stickers would reduce costs (right now SEPTA is using tax payer money to defend this policy)

5 comments:

Alycia said...

Don't they have the M/F stickers so you can't share your pass with your husband/brother/boyfriend/random dude who asks to borrow your pass?

Becky said...

Yes; the sticker is meant to prevent fraud. Septa has provided no evidence that this policy is effective.
I mean, so what if you are a female and your S.O. is a female and she wants to use the pass?! Totally ineffective.

a reference said...

this is just wierd. damn septa.

Percy B said...

I think they actually do put a race designation on them sometimes. When Laura gets hers through work, it always has both F and C on the sticker.

Becky said...

WHAT? race stickers? Okay, I shouldn't have put it past Septa to do that.