From: bob1@cos.com (Bob Blackshaw)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Women's and men's safety
Date: 5 Jan 1993 22:36:31 GMT
Organization: Corporation for Open Systems
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Originator: muffy@remarque.berkeley.edu

In <1iafu6INNiq3@agate.berkeley.edu> turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin) writes:

>-*----
>In article <1hsskrINN1pt@meaddata.meaddata.com> andyw@meaddata.COM writes:
>>> I think part of the difference in fear about violence between men and
>>> women is just a difference in attitude about getting hurt. ...
>>> 
>>> When you look at things like skydiving, whitewater rafting, bungee
>>> jumping, sports you can get hurt playing, etc, men seem to be more
>>> tolerant of a given level of risk than women would be.  ...

>In article <1993Jan3.114505.15032@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au> pol253b@monu1.cc.monash.edu.au (Ms D Alexander) writes:
>> I'm not sure that making a comparison between the fear of injury from
>> sporting activities, and the fear of injury which results from acts of
>> violence is legitimate.  The two are conceptually miles apart.  ...

>I would have said they were only feet apart.  That is, the
>two risks have significant commonalities in my mind.  But 
>this may be a male thing.  In which case the dialogue moves
>back one level of abstraction, where we wonder about the 
>importance of men seeing this coupling as close and women
>seeing it as distant.

Speak for yourself, friend. I am a man (not only my opinion, but
Florence's also) and I find myself closer to Ms. Alexander's view.

No one that I know of was ever tossed into a whitewater raft against
their will. I am also not aware of people being attached to bungee
cords and thrown off bridges against their will. Do I need to go
further.

Surely there is a great difference between endagering oneself in
full awareness of the risk and being endangered by the actions
of another person (to use a polite noun for a rapist). You might
feel that a woman who crosses a dark parking lot at night is
doing it of her own free will, but would you agree that the close
up parking slots be reserved? That comparison also falls down if
you consider that in order to do my job, my employer does not
insist that I whitewater raft or bungee jump. However, they do
insist that I turn up here five days a week. How and where I
get to park is my problem.

Our parking place is lit (mostly), but sometimes the lights go
off for no really good reason. I don't imagine that there are
any large muscular women waiting out there to attack me, but
there have been any number of car-jackings in this area. I 
would rather not experience having a 9mm pistol stuck against
my head, but the possibility exists. Since my car is a rather
attractive model, don't think the thought hasn't crossed my
mind. Stealing my car is trivial compared to rape, but these
types also have a nasty habit of shooting their victims just
for the fun of it.

I suppose that is partially making the case for men being in
danger as much as women. However, car-jacking is a fairly
new phenomena and seems to have dropped off since it became
an automatic 15 years in the slammer. Rape has been with us
far, far to long.

Bob.

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