An eye-catching new study shows just how different the experience of walking home at night is for women versus men.

The study, led by Brigham Young University public health professor Robbie Chaney, provides clear visual evidence of the constant environmental scanning women conduct as they walk in the dark, a safety consideration the study shows is unique to their experience.

  • AggressivelyPassive
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    410 months ago

    What would really interest me is the alignment of perceived and actual threat. This is of course anecdotal and highly localized, but in my bubble men walk home carelessly, while women often express fear. At the same time I know quite a few cases of men getting into trouble, but hardly any women who had anything worse than catcalling happen to them.

    Of course it’s hard to operationalize mugging and rape into a point scale, but maybe there are other ways for comparison.

    • livus
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      510 months ago

      You seem to be suggesting that

      • in your experience careless walkers get into trouble more than careful walkers

      • therefore careful walkers do not face as much of a threat

      Do you see the problem with that line of reasoning? It’s a bit like saying locked cars get stolen less therefore they didn’t need to be locked.

        • livus
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          10 months ago

          I think you know that.

          Nope. Check my comment history, it should be pretty obvious I’m not a troll or a keyboard warrior.

          I was pointing out the flaw in your reasoning in good faith; not trying to start some kind of debate. Take it or leave it.

          • AggressivelyPassive
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            710 months ago

            You’re implying that “care” is something you can actually take. You can’t be careful at walking home. You either go home, or you don’t. Being afraid while doing so does not change your likelihood of being attacked in any form.

            The only difference one could argue exists is the willingness to walk certain paths, but that’s something that absolutely can be controlled for.

            • @adj16
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              110 months ago

              No I’m sorry, this is a ridiculous line of reasoning. If you injure your knee, you can walk down stairs like you normally do, or you can go down them slowly and carefully to lessen the risk of injury. The same goes for this situation of being careful while walking home. As you said, assessing a particular path and then taking another is one option. Only walking through a dark alley when other people are moving that way is another. Looking into a dark corner and moving to the far side so that you can’t be grabbed without a chance to run is another. Making careful choices may not save you if someone is after you in particular, but to say it has no effect on the likelihood of the average woman being attacked is absurd.

          • @adj16
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            110 months ago

            Just wanted to add my agreement with you here since the general Lemmy public doesn’t seem to be on the same page. And I think your message is unequivocally proven by their response to this message of yours.

            • livus
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              10 months ago

              @adj16

              general Lemmy public

              Ah, that’s interesting to know. I’m on Kbin, which doesn’t federate downvotes (meaning, I can only see downvotes from kbin, and our downvotes don’t register on Lemmy).

              So from my interface their top-level comment is sitting on +7 upvotes and -3 downvotes. And my reply is on +12 upvotes and no downvotes.

              I gather from your comment that from your interface, it’s nothing like that.

              This has happened a few times now, I get the impression kbin is maybe a bit more progressive and lemmy.world is a bit more conservative-leaning.

              • @adj16
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                210 months ago

                Very interesting. You’re right, mine is different from that. And I’ve definitely felt like I’ve been screaming into the wind around here sometimes. Maybe it’s about time I give kbin a shot before I shout myself hoarse, so to speak. Here’s my view, fwiw:

                • livus
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                  110 months ago

                  @adj16 hit me up if you do, I’ll add you to my follow list.

                  Kbin’s pretty chill tbh, the interface takes some getting used to but it has a thing like multireddits (“collections”) and can also interact with mastodon as well as the lemmys.

                  Another option is you could go full curated/no downvotes on Beehaw.

    • @[email protected]
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      110 months ago

      In most Western countries, men are statistically more likely to become victims of violence than women. That’s probably also true for crimes at night in public.