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Comment by tomp | Hacker News Reader

> To put it another way, here's another study that could be done: Women view walking alone at night equally attainable, but less desirable.

I wonder why that is... After all, men are more likely than women to be assaulted (beaten up, robbed, murdered).

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Is that corrected for gender of people walking around alone at night?

I doubt it.

Not to mention that women are culturally more cautious about going out than are men when danger is perceived.

> Not to mention that women are culturally more cautious about going out than are men when danger is perceived.

I'm not too sure about that. Feminism has spent years encouraging women to ignore whatever dangers lurk in public, while men have been trained for centuries to help a woman in need. Conversely, men are themselves very well aware that they are the primary target of many violent man (if someone is looking for a fight, it's unlikely that they're going to choose a woman) and that they have nobody to count on if push comes to shove.

Anecdotally, all of my male friends have been assaulted (before being 25), some multiple times, whereas even the worst statistics don't imply nearly as much assault of women.

> Anecdotally, all of my male friends have been assaulted (before being 25), some multiple times, whereas even the worst statistics don't imply nearly as much assault of women.

Are you restricting this to assaults in public?

I guess... I'm not really aware of many attacks in private (friends usually don't fight), except if you count school as private space.

But I'm not sure why exactly you're asking that.

Men are victims of domestic violence in roughly equal numbers to women, according to national health surveys in the US and UK.

(Sidenote: Crime data tells a different story, because men report less often and because official policy in many places is to always charge the man with assault even if he reports being assaulted.)

Although men are not hospitalised by tha violence in anywhere near the same numbers as women. Men are not murdered by their partners as often as women are.

I'm curious about your statement " Feminism has spent years encouraging women to ignore whatever dangers lurk in public." I've only encountered the kind of feminism that gets mad about dangers that lurk in public, and tries to get women to take self-defense classes/carry a rape whistle/get a ride/get some guy to walk them to the car/agitate for campus escorts/fix broken streetlights/raise non-violent sons/. Where are you experiencing this other angle?

You're right that men are assaulted more often in public and that few people help.

> Where are you experiencing this other angle?

Anytime anyone suggests (in public, in media) that women should be more careful, or not trust strangers, etc, they get charged with "victim blaming".

Right, because the perpetrator of violence does deserve the blame for their actions. It's not the same as telling women to ignore the dangers, though. The same people who decry victim blaming also support rape whistles, self-defense classes, pepper spray, and safe-ride-home services. (Now, drinking less alcohol... that's not an appreciated message.)

Anecdotally, women encounter verbal assault a lot more frequently than men. Catcalling, whistling, "give me a smile babe" and the like are an awful experience and dehumanizing.

(I stand corrected about the factual matter of public assault rates on men vs. women.)

If I remember correctly, yes. Women are more likely to be harassed in general, men are more likely to be the victims of physical violence.

The difference in perception is because our culture is currently much more concerned with violence from "creepy" or "stalker" types (anything perceived as sexually motivated) than any other kinds.

> men are more likely to be the victims of physical violence

I read a document [1] yesterday saying that's not entirely true, but if you only count aggravated assault (or something similar - i.e. actually getting seriously hurt, not just a slap or being lightly pushed), men "win".

[1] https://www.notehub.org/2015/1/8/not-all-is-great-in-the-wor...

The question was about walking in the street and a comparison of danger (and I think "seriously hurt" is a good metric for danger).

It is entirely true. Only if you combine spousal abuse statistics, which are circumstances with different causes and different solutions, can you manufacture some useless but close to 50/50 statistic. It is a useless statistic because it serves only as a manufactured factoid for some stupid internet gender related argument. It can't serve as part of a basis of facts for anyone looking to reduce the levels of violence for anyone. It can't serve as information when trying to judge personal risk.

I know you acknowledged this point by putting "win" in quotes, I'm just distancing myself from that entire attitude.

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