Many women feel fear in public spaces. In “Women’s fear and the Design of Public Space,” Gill Valentine explains what women fear in public space. Valentine stated, “Women perceive men to control public space at night. This control is achieved not only by men’s numerical appropriation of public space, but also by the way they dominate it through their appearance and behaviour” (Valentine 300). Women have more fear at night because that is when men dominate public space. Women feel like they are overpowered. Valentine included, “Unlike their daytime attire, at night men’s casual clothing provides few visual clues to their potential behaviour, and so they are perceived as unpredictable. Furthermore, because men are perceived as larger and stronger, women assume they are unable to control men who …show more content…
physically invade their space” (Valentine 300). Like stated above, women fear men because of their appearance, behavior, and they are larger and stronger than women most of the time. Women fear that if a man were to invade their personal space, they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it.
Women sometimes can’t identify attackers based on their external appearance. Valentine goes on to say, “Women feel threatened by all strange men” (301). Women are guessing if men are dangerous or not on their appearance. This time it isn’t whether they are larger or stronger, it is based on their behavior and if they are “strange”. Elizabeth Stanko writes about similar women’s feelings in “Women, Crime, and Fear”. Stanko shared the idea, “Women’s fear of crime is fostered by greater physical and social vulnerability” (Stanko 48). So now social vulnerability for women is in the discussion. They feel vulnerable to men in public space. Women might have more fear than others based on certain factors and circumstances. Stanko found, “Women who had experienced severe forms of violence at the hands of intimates were significantly more fearful than were women who had experienced minor violence and those who had not been victimized” (Stanko 49). This is a huge reason why women are feared. They had experienced first-hand violence and are afraid that it could happen
again. Women’s fear could be looked at in the wrong way. Outsiders might consider women to only be afraid of the biggest and most commonly talked about criminal offense, rape. This is not the only thing that women are afraid of. Women fear men for actions “that are rarely classified as criminal offenses, such as obscene phone calls, being followed on the street, being felt up on public transportation, and sexual harassment” (Stanko 50). This shows that women fear a lot more than just the obvious crime, rape. After reading these journals from Gill Valentine and Elizabeth Stanko, it is now possible to understand what women fear and why they fear it.
Women of color are treated differently; law does not function as a social mediator between relationships of all people. The focus is on women of colour and how non-white communities are considered inherently violent. By such stereotypes, rape myths create a belief that certain races are more dangerous than others, creating fear based on the social construction of society. Using the ``Slut Walk`` article as an example: women have argued ``it is different for a white middle class women to wear something slutty and march in a parade than a women of colour.`` Due to the social construction black woman are more likely to have their characters stereotype and are seen more promiscuous compared to white woman. (Julie Dowsett Lecture).Stereotyping has even gone so far where a police official made a comment about York university students, referring to the females saying “they should not dress like a slut” to reduce assault (Slutwalk 249). Such rape myths put women on the line, claiming that it is their fault for getting sexually assaulted because they provoke men. “Such stereotypical assumptions find their roots in many cultures, including our own. They no longer, however, find a place in Canadian law” (R. v. Ewanchuck
Most women do allow themselves to be a target in today’s age. As it talks about in the story “In the combat zone” by Leslie Marmon Silko. It’s very important to be able to protect yourself as a woman. The author and I were brought up in different environments. It was okay for her to be a tomboy, while it was not okay for me. I was very secluded growing up, compared to the author who was out there in the world doing things, experiencing and learning things with her father. In addition to being raised in different households, I was unprepared for what could happen to me, the author seemed prepared and unafraid.
The article “In the Combat Zone” was written by Leslie Marmon Silko. In her article she makes many valid examples of how women are treated like easy prey. Women are afraid to go out at night alone, because that is when numerous rapes and kidnappings take place. Although most rapes, kidnappings, and robberies happen at night, there are still cases that have occurred during the daylight. Silko gave several examples of these daylight occurrences. She also states that a woman’s mindset of being in a combat zone differs by how the woman was raised. If a woman was raised to depend on others, then that woman would be a higher target. If a woman was raised to defend herself and be dependent, then that woman would be less of a target because they would not show fear.
“Afraid of what?” you may ask, they are not completely sure themselves. Men do not know how the world will change if women become equal. They fear that their role in society will diminish and they will be left out. Allan Johnson addresses this once in his piece saying, “Women’s potential wildness so threatens patriarchy that it’s been suppressed and twisted to the point of being unrecognizable and shows itself on rare and predictably controversial occasions” (549). Men are afraid of what would happen to them if women were able to take on powerful roles in the world. As Johnson says, men combat this by suppressing a woman 's rebellious nature to the point that their few outbreaks are predictable and can be easily dealt with. In order to maintain their position of power, men have to ensure they are always in complete control of the situation. Kilbourne discusses this point in her essay writing, “In his classic essay ‘The Cybernetic of Self’ Gregory Bateson describes the fundamental belief of Western culture that we can dominate, control, and have power over almost every aspect of our experience. We can get rid of pain, we can dominate people who threaten us, we can win any interaction, we can be invulnerable” (509). That perfectly describes the mindset required of men in order to keep gender hierarchy in effect. Men are comfortable
"Violence against women-it's a men's issue." Jackson Katz:. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .
“Women and men do not receive an equal education because outside of the classroom women are perceived not as sovereign beings but as prey” (Rich 446). Women already have this preconceived notion that they not only have to compete with men in school but the pressure that society puts on them to compete with other women every day. The body shaming epidemic going on now tells women that if they don’t have the right measurement then you are not considered attractive, it is another example of how women are viewed as a whole instead of as individuals. Adrienne Rich also discusses the obstacle that women face every day, but no one wants to talk about, rape. “How much of my working energy is drained by the subliminal knowledge that as a woman, I test my physical right to exist each time I go out alone?” What Rich is expressing is that women always have the unnecessary burden, of not only being considered the weaker sex in society but also physically being reminded that as women doing something as mundane as walking to your car you have to be conscious of the possibility of being raped. This is affecting women outside of the classroom setting, if women were represented more in mainstream curriculum there would not be such a conception about gender
As it is in the case of the majority of violent crimes, (Davies and Rogers, 2006) perpetrators of violent crimes, and especially sexual assault related crimes exert additional force by threatening the victim or their families. Male victims also must contend with an additional sense of shame and embarrassment in being identified with a crime that has been typically portrayed in the media as happening to women. This places men at a disadvantage in the reporting process, because their safety and the safety of others is compromised further if the crime is not reported. (Messerschmitt, 2009)
Representations of victims such as Allison Baden-Clay who was a regular mother, loving wife with kids can lead the public to assume only those who share her traits can be victims as well (Christie, 1986, p.19). Those who are incapable physically and have never done anything wrong in their life will be given the benefit of doubt and advantage in their case, in comparison to other victims different to them. This also overlooks the fact which asserts males are more likely to be assaulted and be victims of crime, which many are still not aware of (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2013). Therefore, the public will accept the stereotypes of the attributes a victim consists of, without being aware of the reality where anyone can be
Throughout history, certain crimes have been separated into different categories base on their prevalence. For every crime, the offense and charge is different. In addition, not every crime is committed by the same gender. Crimes such as larceny, fraud, forgery, and prostitution (Chesney-Lind, 1986) tend to be committed more often by women; whereas, assault, murder, trafficking, etc tend to be committed by men. When it comes to the stereotyping of women in the criminal justice system one could say that women present themselves as victims to reach a lesser sentence or that by presenting themselves as victims they will have a longer sentence that will protect them.
Since 1970, there has been an increasing and alarming rise 138 percent of violent crimes committed by women. Still, while the equivalent percentage compared to male violence is small 15 percent to 85 percent the fact that the numbers have elevated so drastically points to something changing in society.
Gender is not based on the sex of a person, but the cultural norms of that society. Gender roles are based on the norms and standards in different societies (Flores 2012). Each societies has their own set of social norms, and the identities that fit those norms. In the United States masculine roles are associated with strength, dominance, and aggression. Women in the US are expected to be more passive, nurturing and subordinate (Flores 2012). Gender roles not only assign traits to men and women they affect the way men and women are supposed to think and act. Women are held to a different set of rules than men are. For a woman to show anger in public is highly stigmatized, and looked down upon. When a man does it it's considered normal. When women are in the media they are given a different set of g...
... female victims in mind to raise safety awareness among female students living on college campuses. Women are primary victims of crimes more strongly influenced by the gender factor; they have been known to be easily overpowered by men (assuming the attacker is male!). A male victim may be able to fight back his attacker, but for a female it seems that their best line of defense is simply locking the door.
This is based on the abusive nature of the crimes that induce fear, humiliation and often violence as well as dangerous behaviors that women have been subjected to become victimized (Belknap, 2015). When looking into the diversity, historically, feminist were focused too strongly on the life experiences of white, middle-class women, and girls than those of all races and financial backings (Belknap, 2015). When looking further into the film “Enough” the character who played Slim is Latino, making this film reinvent in this study considering she is female, middle-class and Latino, and experiencing domestic violence in her household (Belknap, 2015). Slim experienced severe beatings by the hands of her husband, but when she tried to get help from law enforcement, and her in-laws, there was no help to protect her from the abuse she endured (Belknap, 2015). There was reference in the text book that expressed that when victims experience abuse from there partners, they are embedded with fear due to the threats that is expressed towards them or there family, in turn causing them to be fearful to get help or escape the intense abuse (Belknap,
Violence against women is a very serious subject, but the aspects of violence against women have changed over the past few decades. Some of the forms of violence that occur to women are as follows: rape, and domestic violence, which includes intimate partner violence. “Domestic violence or intimate partner violence includes bodily harm, usually accompanied by verbal threats and harassments,emotional abuse or the destruction of property”(Burn 26). Statistics show that in the United States there are 4.8 million rapes, intimate partner violence, and physical assaults per year (Burn 26). My interviewee explained how,“ Back then women were socially taught to keep their mouths closed when it came to domestic violence against women from their partner”. This is an example of how domestic violence has changed from the 1950’s to present day. She herself learned that it was socially right for domestic violence to happen when she was growing up in her own home. Women knew that they could not say anything about domestic violence. Today in the United States, all women have to do is call the police and they will be there, most likely in the women's favor because they are suffering from ...
It is the most visible component of crime that exists. When street crime takes place, men are at higher risk of violent street crime than women are. Numerous of people fear to walk the street, particularly at night due to what we conceive as ‘stranger danger’. Public areas bring us into contact with people that we do not know personally or have no relationship with. According to national police crime statistics, they discovered that roughly two-thirds of murders, burglaries and sexual assaults occur in residential locations. In addition, assault was recorded by the Victorian police crime statistics for 2013/14 to be the highest crime committed in the street at a total of 46,912 cases. During 2011/12 approximately 19% of women were assaulted at their work or place of study and 8% were assaulted on the streets. On top of that, 32% of women at their place of study or work were threatened with assault. However, without crime being reported is it difficult to distinguish between which is more dangerous, the streets or one’s own home. Victims and the public have showed neither increase nor decrease in reporting when crime occurred during the last decade. This has become a problem for the police due to that their data on crimes derives from reporting incidents of