Cabaret compère sexually harrassed on Central line on Wednesday
Cabaret compère Victoria Kember was told she "deserved to be raped" by a group of around 11 men at White City Station on Wednesday.
Victoria, 30 was travelling home on the Central Line when she was sexually harrassed by a group of "disgusting, sexist" yobs after she objected to them catcalling her on the Tube.
And she has posted pictures of the men on her Twitter account in the hope of identifying them.
The group were thought to have been playing football together and were all wearing the same green kits.
She said: "They were grown men. I'm embarrassed for them. They've probably got kids. They should know better. They're disgusting, sexist pigs. I don't understand how it's still happening now in 2017."
She was commuting from Acton to her home in Shoreditch when the train called at the station just after 9.35pm on Wednesday, 10 May.
Victoria, a comedian and burlesque dancer who runs Hooray Cabaret nights in Hackney, and has a day job as PA for an advertising company, told the Evening Standard: "Instantly when the doors opened I just heard them, 'Oh hello blondie, hello red lips.' I looked up and there was about 10 or 11 of them and they were all catcalling and smoking.
"I just middle-fingered them because, you know what, I can, because I'm allowed to do what I want - that's how I felt at the time."
She said one of the group, who she estimated were all aged between 26 and 35, then flew into a rage and launched a tirade of vile abuse.
She said: "He just turned on me in one second. He tried getting on the tube, saying 'you deserve to be raped you f***ing fat slag'. It was awful.
"They kept saying, 'I hope you get raped, you deserve to be raped' over and over again. 'I hope you get raped on the way home. 'You're a fat bitch, why is no one sat next to you? You're a c**t, you're a c**t,' over and over again.
"When I took a picture of him he tried to get on the carriage but the door had shut, thank god. I could have been in real trouble."
She added: "Why should I be stopped from reacting because I think I'm going to be hurt by somebody? I've done nothing wrong other than having my hair done and having a vagina. It's scary, men in big groups catcalling you. It's terrifying sometimes and you try to stick up for yourself as a strong woman.
"I can stick up for myself but at the same time I middle-finger the wrong guy and he might punch me, stab me, kill me, rape me - whatever."
Siwan Hayward, TfL’s head of transport policing, said:" I commend Victoria for reporting what she experienced. The actions of this group of men were intimidating, demeaning and totally unacceptable.
"We do not tolerate this type of behaviour on London’s public transport."
British Transport Police are now investigating the incident and a spokeswoman said: "Officers are investigating a report of sexual harassment at White City London underground station.
"We take every report of unwanted sexual behaviour seriously and would encourage anyone who witnessed the incident to come forward."
Anyone with any information can contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016, citing reference 30 of 11/05.
May 12, 2017