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The Truth About the “Bystander Effect”
This legend won’t die, and it’s harmful to women
Update: At the time of writing, I was unaware of the recent case in Philadelphia, where a woman was raped on the subway while passengers on the train failed to intervene, but several did record it on their smart phones. Thanks to a kind reader, I’ve updated this article to include it.
CNN and several other news outlets have probed deeper about the story that’s now gone viral: that no one intervened, and no one called 911. CCTV cameras show people getting on and off the train during the incident, mostly unaware of what was happening. But the footage does show that some people were aware, and they filmed it. For the record, at least one person did call 911, and the police boarded the train and the interrupted the rape in progress… although the rape had already been going on for six minutes.
Perhaps because I’m of a different generation, it simply does not occur to me that the first response to distress or violence would ever be to record it, rather than call for help or intervene. However, there is now more than one generation who have been socialized to video as…
