NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #31/NN_1992_31.iso/spool/soc/feminism/3000

Internet Message Format | 1992-12-22 | 3.3 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!spool.mu.edu!agate!remarque.berkeley.edu!muffy
From: [e-mail] (Dan Welch)
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: Re: Women's and men's safety
Date: 22 Dec 1992 16:20:01 GMT
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Muffy Barkocy) writes:
>In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Dan Welch) writes:
>>Karen, I understand your feelings, but you have to understand that the
>>"safety" men have is just an attitude, and one that may be wrong.
>
>1. Women are, on average, smaller.  My SO can pick me up and toss me
>across the room if he wants to.  He's not in incredible shape, although
>he's fairly strong, but I am very light.

This is, of course, completely true.  Unfortunately, there isn't much we
can do about it.  Size (and strength) difference is the biggest weakness
women have, I think.  Most of the things you can do to prevent crime,
though, don't have very much to do with size.  Self-defense, martial arts,
using a hatpin, or (if it's legal) a gun, are all size independent.  There
is a certain attitude one must have to use them, though.

>3. Women are less likely to be trained in defense.  My brother was sent
>to self-defense training; I was not.  Certainly, I *could* take such
>training, but how many people really do?  A lot more men learn to fight,
>one way or another.  Not all attackers have guns, after all.  The guy
>who tried to snatch my purse didn't have any weapons at all.

This is the crux of the matter, IMHO.  You ask "how many people really
do?" and the answer, certainly, is very few.  But it shouldn't be.  The
main reason men feel safer is that they feel more confident of their
ability to defend themselves.  Women can gain that confidence, but so
very few do that it's distressing.  Many don't want to even think about
it, but just accept their status as "targets".  For the life of me, I
don't understand that.

I tried to get my fiance to take self-defense classes for a long time,
and only succeeded after someone exposed himself to her while she was
jogging.  She had a can of pepper gas, but never carried it with her,
which she always does now.  It took a near-incident to get her to take
an active interest in her own safety.  It drove me crazy!  I can't figure
out why someone who thinks they are more vulnerable won't do anything
to make themselves *less* vulnerable.

What do we come back to?  The old "men protecting women" thing.  Just
speculating, but how many women do you suppose won't take self-defense
classes because it is "unfeminine", in one way or another?  This is
the attitude we must fight.

Daniel Welch


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