From: gds@ficus.cs.ucla.EDU (Greg Skinner)
Subject: Re: men crossing the street at night to avo
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Organization: in your face!
Date: 7 Jan 93 21:44:58 GMT

In article <1ifilkINNo04@agate.berkeley.edu> cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu writes:
>You also have the right to pick your nose on a streetcorner, but are you
>going to do it?  I'm not talking about your rights but about how to act
>around other people.  I'm not saying that you don't have the right to be
>on the sidewalk; no one is saying that all men should be ordered off the
>streets after dark to avoid scaring women.  All we're saying is that
>women are jumpy as all hell, and with good reason, and we'd APPRECIATE
>it if men understood that, and would it kill you to make it a bit
>easier for us?  We'll try to reciprocate when it comes our turn.

Incidentally, when this topic was debated on soc.women years ago, it
*was* recommended (by women) that men be ordered off the streets at
night, or at the very least, that they move to the other side of the
street.  (I don't have the articles handy; perhaps someone who
archives old postings does.)

I appreciate and understand that women are afraid of potential
muggers, rapists, etc. at night.  (So am I.)  However, I take
responsibility to protect myself, which sometimes means I have to
cross the street if I feel I'm being threatened.  In my opinion, this
is the logical course to take.  Requiring someone to cross the street
if they're just minding their business is denying them their rights as
lawful citizens.

>As a woman and a black man, we are going to interpret avoidance in
>different ways.  It sounds a lot as if you're saying that since I don't
>see things as a black man would see them, that I don't see things
>correctly.

Not at all.  I'm just pointing out how I see things.  Also, keep in
mind that I have not demanded, requested, or even implied that I want
people to treat me differently than they already do.

>Well, you don't see things as a woman would see them either.
>When people cross the street to avoid you, they are being jumpy and
>assuming that you are a sort of time bomb.

If they want to assume that, I can't stop them.

A story:

On the second night of rioting here in LA (the night they ordered a
curfew after dark), I was on my way back home from the supermarket.
The lines were long and everyone was talking about it.  People were
pretty jumpy (even more so than they usually are).  As I was walking,
a man starting running directly towards me.  I was very scared for a
second (it reminded me of when I was mugged at gunpoint a few months
earlier).  I couldn't even move out of his way.  He ran straight at
me ... and straight past me.

Now, sure, I might have felt better if he hadn't run directly at me.
However I have no right to expect (explicity or implicitly) that he
should do this.  Who knows, maybe he was just trying to make the
traffic light.

--gregbo

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