Foul Language on the Bus

[keeni84]

I was riding the bus today and a bunch of young black guys (25 years old and younger, I believe) were ranting about life. That was fine, but their language was so horrendous. "Bitch" this and "Nigga" that and "shit" this. They went on and on, getting louder and louder, until the conversation turned to how they never wanted to "bang basic bitches"

Comments

[hashishinahooka]

I tend remain quiet. Recently, I overheard two men misgender a little boy on the bus, and then, go straight into a rant about trans* women right in front of him. Exposing a child to transphobia, especially a child who is often misgendered (as reported by his grandmother) is really unsettling to me, but I never feel comfortable speaking up because 1) I might get attacked and/or 2) I might just end up spurring on more transphobia. However, if it were my child, I more than likely would have spoken up because I don't want my children to be exposed to transphobia because I actually fucking understand that my child could be trans*.

[1208am]

As someone who uses vulgar language pretty freely I wouldn't have said anything to the boys. That wasn't the right setting to address them. Now if I was the father (the mother instead because if I was a male I would have told them to calm down) I would have either a) asked the bus driver to address it I'm sure there are rules against using language like that on the bus &/or b) got the attention of my daughter to distract her either by educating her on how those boys are ignorant or keeping her engaged in a different conversation. If possible I would have moved farther away from them if possible, if I had headphones I would let her listen to music.
If I were you I would have turned to the little girl & said "pretty & smart girls don't talk like that do they?" & talked to her or something. But more than likely I would have just turned my music up louder if I could even hear the boys in the first place.

[implodes]

sigh. i am 4'9" and so will probably never call out behavior by a group of dudes in public, even if it's as terrible as that.

[happywriter06]

Considering they were talking like that about women and I'm a woman, I wouldn't have said anything directly for fear of hearing that kind of talk directed at me. I probably would've asked the bus driver to address it.

As a parent of a child, if I were in that situation, I would've covered his ears and explained why I was doing it.

[kisha]

I used to hear language like this all the time when I lived in Philly. These kids were under 16, and the things they would say were just disgusting.

I wouldn't say a word. People out here are crazy. Say something, and they'll flip out on you. I think the only time I would intervene is if things were getting physical (like assaulting and such).