There's something I wanted to talk about. Recently we had a mini-controversy around here after a feminists posted a list of advice to men to make women feel safer. Now, amongst them was "When I'm walking behind a woman at night, I cross the street to give her a wide berth." Now, my first reaction was "Fuck that, I'm already doing my part by not raping anyone, thank you very much". But she was raising some interesting point about the fact that women are brought up in the fear of being raped by strangers (never mind that rapist are more often than not people you know).
So yeah, I'd like the forum's opinion on this.
You know I go to the gym regularly, and while there I'm in a place with other guys, many of whom are significantly bigger and stronger than I, and while I may not know their political views I'm sure considering the number of other people it is statistically likely a few, maybe one or two of them are homophobic, and strong enough to beat the living shit out of me if they chose.
Would it be reasonable for me to want other men there to actively avoid me just to make me feel more secure? No, that would be total bullshit, most of them are really nice people. I'm not going to make such silly demands on people who have done nothing wrong just because there are a few bad apples in the world.
If a woman feels uncomfortable walking near me at night, she can cross the damn road. I refuse to get to the back of the bus.
Anyway, the fact of the matter is that while the vast majority of people aren't going to want to beat me up, some will. I haven't been bought up in fear, it is just a rational concern. In the same way any women that is slightly worried when a guy walks behind her at night has rational reason to do so as sexual assault is a real thing that actually happens. Once you demand that all guys cross the road just for her
sense of safety, not actual safety as the vast majority of these guys are fine, but just the feeling of being safe, you are getting unreasonable.