tboy said:
Hmmmm ok, so like Paul Bernardo et al are like, what? 1 in 10 million? Yeah, that's reason to have walls up.
Now I'm not advocating being reckless but let's be realistic here: the odds of that guy who walked up to you and said hi at the grocery store being any sort of real danger to you are worse than winning the lottery.
In fact, I believe the typical sexual assault occurs from someone you know as opposed to a total stranger.
According to the police services website there have been 1184 sexual assaults to date 2008. (down 8.4% from last year). Now let's just say there are what, oh, 500,000 single men in this city? That's about .002%
Statistics really mean nothing to me tboy (In the words of Disraeli and Mark Twain: There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics). Keep in mind that those police reports only come from crimes that are REPORTED - there are many assults/rapes/robberies etc. that go unreported.
Living in this city as a woman requires a different mindset than that of a man who can seemingly walk around without the need to be pro-active for his safety. There are a lot of psychos and crazy people in this world - me having this "extra layer of protection" isn't doing me any harm.
Unlike that friend of yours, I do know people that have been assaulted, date raped etc so taking preventative measures doesn't shove a pickle up my ass.
(Aside: IMHO, Paul Bernardo was attractive thus why I used him in my example.) I am not saying that all men are serial killers, rapists or terrible people. I am also not saying that I give everyone the cold shoulder (read my first post.) I know that I personally would never be able to shake that feeling of responsibility if I were assaulted by someone who I smiled at on the bus. I'd always have that thought in the back of my mind; what if I hadn't.
lawyerman said:
I think that anyone speaking of sexual assaults and that women should not have barriers around them doesn't know any better.
Until it happens to someone that you know and love, then just shut the fuck up.
Thank you. (I would have said it a tad differently. ^_^)