A woman should be able to get public transport to work without feeling harrassed, model and influencer Holly Carpenter has said.
She was speaking as a video circulating on social media shows a young woman abused on an empty bus in the UK.
Holly told The Hard Shoulder this is something she has experienced herself.
"It's not necessarily things you'd look at from the outside of the DART or the bus looking in," she said.
"It's not something you'd instantly see and go, 'God, something really violent or disturbing is happening there'.
"It can just be people looking at you, making inappropriate comments.
A red Stop button is seen on a bus. Picture by: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo"A lot of it would have been when I was younger, in groups of girls going into town for the night on the DART.
"There'd be lads coming on, or older men, and it was almost like they were looking for young groups of girls - which is the most worrying thing - going up and down the different carriages.
"They'd just be saying, 'Oh, where are you off to?' and 'Give us a smile'".
'Really frightening'
Holly said such events have a lasting effect on people.
"The thing that strikes me as even the most frightening part of that video that's circulating is how quickly it goes from banter - or what they think is banter - to when the woman will say 'Can you please not talk to me'... and then they suddenly change and that's when it gets really nasty.
"It can just be really frightening.
"It doesn't mean that you're just going to be shaken for that one day, and maybe you won't get the public transport the next day.
Holly Carpenter is seen in London, England ahead of the Miss World ceremony in 2011. Picture by: PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo"It actually stays with you for a lot longer, and I think a lot of men have never experienced that feeling of feeling so vulnerable you're looking over your shoulder.
"You've got a tight feeling in your chest, you're texting your friends to let them know what stop you're at and when you're going to be getting off, seeing if anyone will meet you.
"It's not a thing that a lot of men have had to do - but there's a reason that women tell each other 'Text me when you're home'".
'That doesn't make it OK'
Holly said such events should be shocking, but they're not.
"It's something that unfortunately a lot of us have experienced, and it's not shocking," she said.
"If someone told me that a group of lads were catcalling them on a bus, or a man was inappropriately staring at them, I wouldn't be surprised because it actually just happens so often to women.
"That doesn't make it OK".
She said a peaceful journey should be the bare minimum for people to expect.
"I just feel like it's the bare minimum that a woman should be able to get on the bus, go to work without feeling like that.
"That's not a lot to ask for," she added.
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