Being sexually harassed? Fire up the Not Your Baby iPhone app

Let’s say some asshole is harassing you on the bus—sexually harassing you. What if you don’t know what to do? Who does in such situations?

Thanks to the folks at Toronto’s Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children, you can now find the advice of over 200 people in your pocket. The charity’s free iPhone app, Not Your Baby, is designed to help you figure out how to respond to sexual harassment in a variety of situations.

So, back to said asshole. If you were to load up Not Your Baby, you could click on “Stranger” under “Who is harassing you?” and select “Public Transit” under “Where are you?” One response then suggested by the app is to yell “Leave me ALONE you disgusting PERVERT!” and gesticulate wildly.

Or you could just put your headphones on and turn up the volume on the music. That’s another response from METRAC’s sexual harassment response generator.

The group populated the responses based on the input of 238 people. Not Your Baby allows you submit your own responses, and even has a “Discreet Mode”, which darkens the screen so people around you can’t tell what you’re doing. There’s also a sexual-harassment FAQ and information about resources.

While the app itself says it “doesn’t have all the answers”, it’s designed to give users dealing with sexual harassment a chance to see what others in similar situations have done.

You can follow Stephen Hui on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.