I do agree that women have a right to know and understand risks - but I would like to point out that as a woman, it's very hard to reach the age of about 14 without having these drummed into you.
We are all told, repeatedly, not to walk anywhere alone after dark - or sometimes even in daylight (parks are dangerous places!), not to take public transport in the evening, to lock our doors when driving alone and not to go into carparks alone at night, not to get drunk when we are out with people, and so on... It amounts to a curfew, and I suspect the person writing the meme was trying to get at the fact that while this may be useful information to give to young girls, it is both a little insulting (we know, and we are already taking as much care as we can). Especially as this kind of advice appears to put the responsibility of rape prevention back onto the woman.
Which is not to say it isn't good to be informed about new and nasty tricks people might be playing, such as date-rape drugs etc.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this, exactly. I suppose I just feel significantly curfewed already - as though I would be seen as having taken a foolish risk if I got attacked walking home from the tram at night when I'm at work late, when in fact anything short of staying at home or always leaving work during daylight hours would put me at risk, since I've been told to be wary of walking, driving, taking public transport or taking a taxi!
I suppose the real trouble is it's all very well to be informed about risks - but really, the risks we are informed about are so all-encompassing that it is virtually impossible to live without having to take one of these 'risks' daily. To me this suggests that we should be trying to make the activities of daily life less risky, rather than telling women they have a responsibility to keep themselves safe at all time, when this more or less impossible.
I hope this isn't too incoherent, but it touched a nerve.
no subject
We are all told, repeatedly, not to walk anywhere alone after dark - or sometimes even in daylight (parks are dangerous places!), not to take public transport in the evening, to lock our doors when driving alone and not to go into carparks alone at night, not to get drunk when we are out with people, and so on... It amounts to a curfew, and I suspect the person writing the meme was trying to get at the fact that while this may be useful information to give to young girls, it is both a little insulting (we know, and we are already taking as much care as we can). Especially as this kind of advice appears to put the responsibility of rape prevention back onto the woman.
Which is not to say it isn't good to be informed about new and nasty tricks people might be playing, such as date-rape drugs etc.
I'm not sure where I'm going with this, exactly. I suppose I just feel significantly curfewed already - as though I would be seen as having taken a foolish risk if I got attacked walking home from the tram at night when I'm at work late, when in fact anything short of staying at home or always leaving work during daylight hours would put me at risk, since I've been told to be wary of walking, driving, taking public transport or taking a taxi!
I suppose the real trouble is it's all very well to be informed about risks - but really, the risks we are informed about are so all-encompassing that it is virtually impossible to live without having to take one of these 'risks' daily. To me this suggests that we should be trying to make the activities of daily life less risky, rather than telling women they have a responsibility to keep themselves safe at all time, when this more or less impossible.
I hope this isn't too incoherent, but it touched a nerve.
Catherine