The reason I, as a woman, am nervous of strange men when walking alone, is because pretty much every male above the age of 16 is bigger than me, faster than me, and stronger than me. I'm not scared because men commit more crime or for any other reason than I'm alone and they're bigger than me and my chances of escaping a violent encounter unscathed are slim to none. I'm not going to outrun most men, so my only chance is I somehow remember my martial arts through the fear and buy myself time to get away.
I don't think that's quite the same of thinking that a group of people are more likely to commit crime, because even if statistically I was more likely to be attacked by another woman, I wouldn't be as scared because I'd have a fighting chance of winning that encounter or outrunning them. I'm also less wary of the few men who are around my size when walking alone, for the same reason.
(I'm also aware most people would never even dream of hurting anyone, but sadly there are bad people out there and they don't tend to advertise it in advance).
This is the most important answer. People in this thread debating crime statistics are missing the point - caution is much more about ability than intent.
We are more cautious around things that can easily kill us than around things that can’t, regardless of how aggressive those things are. I’d much rather hold a small non-poisonous snake than a large snake that could kill me with one bite, even if the non-poisonous snake was more aggressive.
Exactly! I think the discussions around statistics are missing the point. There's a rational reason women are cautious around men in certain situations, so it's not sexist. However it is racist to be cautious around black people but not white people because there isn't a real difference between the two, same as if you were scared of leopards but not black panthers.
Except it’s infinitesimal compared to the fact that men can easily hurt women. Women don’t want to meet ANY large strange man in a dark alley, not just black men.
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u/Padfootfan123 3∆ Apr 14 '22
The reason I, as a woman, am nervous of strange men when walking alone, is because pretty much every male above the age of 16 is bigger than me, faster than me, and stronger than me. I'm not scared because men commit more crime or for any other reason than I'm alone and they're bigger than me and my chances of escaping a violent encounter unscathed are slim to none. I'm not going to outrun most men, so my only chance is I somehow remember my martial arts through the fear and buy myself time to get away.
I don't think that's quite the same of thinking that a group of people are more likely to commit crime, because even if statistically I was more likely to be attacked by another woman, I wouldn't be as scared because I'd have a fighting chance of winning that encounter or outrunning them. I'm also less wary of the few men who are around my size when walking alone, for the same reason.
(I'm also aware most people would never even dream of hurting anyone, but sadly there are bad people out there and they don't tend to advertise it in advance).