From Crime Prevention and Community Safety, Vol 19(3) Women’s strategies addressing sexual harassment and assault on public buses: an analysis of crowdsourced data Suzanne Goodney Lea, Ph.D. 1 Elsa D’Silva Abhijith Asok Abstract This paper uses crowdsourced data on women’s self-reports of harassment and assault on public buses in India. The data provide a basis to identify the strategies that women use to respond to and manage this everyday threat. The study examines 137 accounts of assault collected by a crowdsourced platform in which women detail keeping silent (n = 27), fleeing (n = 38), or resisting (n = 72) such an assault. Findings show that confronting incidents in the moment by “making a scene” and “engaging the crowd” works well in the closed, shared- space setting of a crowded public bus. The study concludes by asserting crowdmapping as a multi-faceted tool: it can allow women to be aware of potentially dangerous locales, empowers them to report incidents to help keep others safe, and provides a source of data to advise on best practices for navigating street harassment and assault in public buses. Keywords Women’s safety Public transportation Groping Assault Crowdsourced data Introduction According to UK government advice “India Travel Advice,” women are advised to “use caution when traveling in India” as there are increased reports of sexual assault against women and girls (Gov.UK 2015). This set of behaviors includes verbal and physical harassment by both individual and groups of men and numerous “serious” assaults over the last few years against women, both Indian and foreign. Women are encouraged to exercise 1 Adjunct Professor, University of Maryland – Baltimore County, and CEO, Red Dot Foundation Global - 5217 Lightning View Rd., Columbia, MD 21045 - suzanne.g.lea@gmail.com - (571) 263- 1161