The latest subway self-defense hack to emerge on social media calls for two things everyone has — a sock and a can of beans.
“You get your can of Goya … and you put them inside the sock and, girl, you swing like you have never swung in your life, ’cause now you’re fighting for your life,” a straphanger known on TikTok as @talibandominicano recommended in a video that got over 320,000 views and 45,000 likes.
“Ladies, take note … this can really save your life,” he said.
“That move’s been working since the ‘80s,” one person commented.
Others likened it to putting a Master Lock in a sock, and offered even more creative ideas, like using rolls of quarters, D batteries or a billiard ball.
“My bag is already heavy, now I gotta carry a can of beans?!” one fed-up woman commented. “The things we have to do in order to keep safe,” she added with a crying emoji.
Last year, an influencer urged NYC women to carry spray paint to defend themselves from attackers amid a string of unprovoked attacks.
In other videos, a TikToker carried a small fire extinguisher onto the train, referencing the horrific murder of Debrina Kawam, who was burned alive on the subway on Dec. 22.
“Who else is becoming increasingly paranoid while taking the MTA subway?” he wrote in one video. “Tired of carrying Goya beans and [Nike] Dri-FIT socks and fire extinguisher,” he said in another. “I need to hustle harder to buy a car.”
In the final three days of 2024 and first two of 2025, five people were stabbed or slashed underground and a 45-year-old rider was thrown onto the tracks in Chelsea.
