[ Dear Boris Johnson/To whom it may concern]

[Write here a personal statement illustrating experiences you have had on public transport where you have felt that an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment was created for you by being exposed to someone looking at or exposing you to porn. Explain how it made you feel that way. Describe the imagery you saw and how inappropriate it was on public transport]

In 2006 as part of the Equality Act, Transport for London was placed under a duty to eliminate sex discrimination and sexual harassment, and promote gender equality in its business as well as its employment practices. According to the 2005 amendments made to the original 1975 Sex Discrimination Act, harassment includes conduct which has the effect of violating a woman's dignity or creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment for her.

Unwanted exposure to pornography, and unwanted close-proximity to people arousing themselves by viewing pornography on public transport creates an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating and offensive environment for women.

Since Transport for London has not addressed this inappropriate conduct in its business, it has failed in its duty as outlined in the Equality Act to eliminate this form of harassment and sex-discrimination. To continue to ignore these concerns is unlawful.

There has been a movement of pornography (images with a primary purpose to sexually stimulate) from the top-shelf to the news stand, initiated by The Sun, then followed by The Sport and The Star, and later from the top shelf to the shop counter – started by Loaded magazine, followed by FHM, Nuts and Zoo. This movement has given some male passengers the impression that viewing pornography in the presence of women and/or exposing women to its images is not intimidating, hostile, degrading or offensive towards them. However these men are wrong.

This apparent 'normalisation' of pornography in the form of 'porn papers' and 'lads mags' occurred before the Equality Act, when Transport for London had no duty to eliminate harassment and sex-discrimination in its business. Since the introduction of Equality Act, the onus falls on Transport for London to educate passengers that what was once acceptable behaviour is no longer the case, by either conspicuously publicising strict guidelines on what imagery can/cannot be viewed/exposed to other passengers on London transport, or banning such publications, backed up with threats of penalties if not followed.

[Personal closing statement]

Yours faithfully/sincerely

[Your name]

[Your address]

[Date]