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Bus seat shaped like a man's lap was installed to make a point about sexual harassment.

Obviously, it wasn't the most comfortable — or preferred — seat on the train for riders.

Photo pulled from YouTube video

Mexico City installs attention grabbing, anatomically correct seat.

Anyone using the Mexico City Metro recently may have spotted an ... odd seat on the train, a seat quite unlike the rest.

Instead of a back, the seat's plastic was molded into a person's protruding torso. And instead of a flat bottom for sitting, the seat took on the form of that person's thighs and penis.

Obviously, it wasn't the most comfortable — or preferred — seat on the train for riders.

Above the seat was a sign declaring the seat "for men only."

Another sign on the floor, legible once a person was sitting in the chair, reads (translated from Spanish): “It’s annoying to sit here, but doesn’t compare to the sexual violence women suffer on their daily trips."

Watch a video of confused, amused, and offended passengers experiencing the seat below:

The campaign, #NoEsDeHombres, was launched by U.N. Women and authorities in Mexico City to educate men on the seriousness of sexual assault on public transit.

Mexico's capital has a bad reputation when it comes to women's safety, the BBC reported. A global 2014 study found Mexico City was the worst in the world in terms of verbal and physical harassment experienced on public transit.

But harassment is a problem on virtually every major city transit system — including in the U.S. Last year, a survey of Washington, D.C., transit riders found 1 in 5 users had experienced sexual harassment during their commutes, with 28% of that figure reporting having been inappropriately touched or assaulted. As you could have guessed, women were nearly three times as likely as men to experience harassment, the survey found.

Maybe a seat like this for men should be on every city train from here on out.


This article originally appeared on 03.31.17


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An artist painted a giant man on a hillside. In 3 weeks, it will be gone.

A few weeks after its creation, this painting of a man relaxing in the grass, believed to be one of the largest ever, will disappear forever.

Photo by Alain Grosclaude/AFP/Getty Images.

Artist Saype said that his painting, entitled "What Makes a Great Man," is an attempt to reflect on the "relationship between human beings and nature."

The piece is 100% biodegradable, composed completely from materials Saype mixed himself.

Saype. Photo by Alain Grosclaude/AFP/Getty Images.

The media used to complete the fresco include flour, linseed oil, water, and natural pigments.

Saype chose Leysin, Switzerland, for the site, where the giant painting would be dwarfed by the mountains surrounding it.

"The idea is to paint a huge man compared to the real size of a man but really small compared to the mountains, the world," he said.

Saype conceived the project three years ago, and it required weeks of backbreaking labor to compete.

Photo by Alain Grosclaude/AFP/Getty Images.

Finishing the fresco required Saype to walk up and down the hill multiple times a day and paint very rapidly, often in an attempt to beat the rain.

At the end of each day, he filmed his progress with a drone to pick out mistakes and allow him to adjust if necessary.

As the grass grows and the rain falls, Saype's man will slowly warp, fade, and disintegrate.

Photo by Alain Grosclaude/AFP/Getty Images.

According to Saype, the painting's temporary existence is central to its design.

"The fact that it is short-lived reflects the idea that all is impermanent, nothing in our life lasts forever," he said.

Saype hopes the painting will inspire discussion about humanity's responsibility toward its environment.

Photo by Alain Grosclaude/AFP/Getty Images.

"I read ... some publications where scientists were saying that we are in a critical period where our generations are not aware about the disaster that they trigger on the ecosystem," he said. "In many years we will reach a non reversible point where it will be too late to get disengaged."

A 2014 United Nations panel concluded that drastic cuts to greenhouse emissions worldwide would be necessary to reverse, or slow, the effects of climate change. An agreement signed the following year commits the 197 signatories to hold global temperature rise under two degrees Celsius.

Saype explained that he began doing land art, in part, to make people question their role in shaping their surroundings.

"I am not a fervent ecologist," he said. "But it is a theme that I am interested in and I think that my generation must be more aware it."

Photo by Alain Grosclaude/AFP/Getty Images

What does he hope the painting will inspire in viewers' attitude toward nature?

"A touch of humility."

Family

Bartenders in D.C. are learning how to stop sexual assault, and so far, it's working.

This new bartender program is showing sexual assault the door.

A few weeks ago, a woman came into the ChurchKey bar in Washington, D.C., to have a drink alone, but a male patron had a different idea.

He sat next to her and chatted her up. While the conversation seemed innocent enough at first, the bartenders working nearby sensed the woman was growing increasingly uncomfortable. If you're a woman and you've ever been to a bar by yourself, you're probably all too familiar with this scenario.

Photo via iStock.

However, what happened next was altogether different. According to Sam Nellis, the bar's manager, two bartenders on staff intervened three separate times to dissuade the man's advances. Finally, when he went in for an unwanted kiss, one bartender said, "Hey! Don’t you think you’re getting a little aggressive there?"

When the man got up to use the bathroom, they made sure the woman was OK, helped her exit the bar through the back door, and got her into an Uber so she could get home safely.

How did these bartenders know what to do? The answer can be summed up in two words: Safe Bars.

Photo by Safe Bars.

Safe Bars is a training program that teaches bar staff to recognize the subtle signs of an impending sexual assault and stop it before anyone gets hurt.

Why is that so important? Because 1 out of every 4 women will experience some form of sexual assault in their adolescence or early adulthood. And at least half of those crimes occur while the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol.

Considering those statistics, it's not hard to see why a program like this is so important.


Photo by ChurchKey, used with permission.


"The training helps us to recognize the subtle difference between a person okay with physical contact and someone who does not want to be touched," Sam told Upworthy.

"For example, if someone is leaning away from the other person or if they have their arms crossed." But it's also about reading the dynamic of an interaction over a period of time. If a woman suddenly becomes withdrawn in a conversation with man, that should put employees on alert.

When an employee told Sam about the program, which is part of the advocacy group Collective Action for Safe Spaces (CASS) and Defend Yourself, he was immediately on board.

"Frankly, it was one of those moments where you think to yourself, 'How is this not already a thing that everybody does?'"

The program is new and is currently being funded by a $20,000 grant from the NFL, which has recently donated approximately $10 million to initiatives battling sexual violence, including this program, after being criticized over multiple incidents where players have been accused or convicted of assault.

The program is usually taught in two-hour sessions but can be customized to fit your establishment's requirements.

It involves learning how to identify subtle signifiers of sexual aggression and role-playing to practice curtailing it. While the training doesn't guarantee that every sexual assault can be stopped, it can certainly help bar employees be more alert and ready to take action.

While it's relatively early in Safe Bar's launch, the story from ChurchKey is encouraging.

Photo by ChurchKey, used with permission.

Safe Bars is already planning to expand the program to other cities, bringing it to bars that want to put an end to sexual assault in their establishments.

Sam can't wait until the system is a given in his city and hopefully, one day, the world.

"My dream for Safe Bars is that it becomes ubiquitous in D.C. I hope that one day it will be a prerequisite for operating an establishment that serves alcohol."

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He has ALS. He can no longer speak. And he needs you to listen to him talk about it.

ALS took his ability to move. So he started a movement.

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ALS doesn't strike with a terrifying blow. It is a gradual, creeping illness. A thousand tiny cuts that slowly add up.

For Hiro Fujita, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis started with his arms feeling heavy. Then his legs began to hurt and it became harder to climb stairs. He went to the doctor almost as a precaution, expecting to be told it was nothing serious.

Instead, on Nov. 26, 2010, Hiro was diagnosed with ALS. It is the same devastating disease suffered by astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. Hawking has lived 50 years with ALS. Hiro was told he could expect to live three to five years at most before the disease attacking his motor neurons shut down his body completely.

By 2012, ALS was taking hold of Hiro's body. He had trouble lifting his arms. He broke his front teeth after tripping over nothing. Getting up from the couch became a question of if rather than when.

As his body slowly stopped being able to move, Hiro's mind was racing. He had to do something. It was time to start a movement and find a cure.

In late 2012, Hiro launched his foundation, End ALS, with two very simple goals: (1) Make ALS famous and find a cure and (2) change government policy so people living with ALS can affordably access technology that lets them live more comfortable lives.

An End ALS supporter wears her shirt proudly. All proceeds from shirt sales benefit the organization and its work toward a cure for ALS. Image by Hiro Fujita/End ALS, used with permission.

Over the last four years, Hiro has worked nonstop toward those goals. He's built a movement, spoken at conferences, written a book, and done the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Hiro with End ALS supporters in 2015. Image by Hiro Fujita/End ALS, used with permission.

He's done all of this while still working as an planning director at a Tokyo ad agency — thanks in large part to technological advances helping people with ALS live more normal lives. In an interview with Facebook last year, he talked about one innovation in particular:

"I use Tobii eye tracking software so I can control my computer cursor with my eyes. Japan's insurance doesn't cover it unless you can only move your eyes, but every person in need deserves it. ... It enables me to work on END ALS. It also lets me access Facebook, which is my main way to connect and hang with friends. It is a way for me to live my pre-ALS life through others. It can be painful to see what you’re missing out on, but it's comforting it still exists. Not to mention all of the long and short 'stay strong' messages."

"I am 99% grateful for all that has happened in my life. But 1% angry."

That's the most poignant quote from Hiro's very popular talk at TEDx Tokyo in 2014. A year earlier, he'd had a tracheotomy and lost his voice. No matter. He spoke anyway, using text-to-voice software. He plans to keep speaking. However he can. As long as he can. As he says in his Facebook story:

"I can no longer speak, but it does not mean I am giving up. My friends give me strength and I will keep fighting. For myself. For others. For a cure. My voice is louder now that ALS took it away."

Watch Hiro's presentation at TEDx Tokyo:

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