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I'm so confused by the fear women report of strangers (don't walk at night alone, have pepper spray, etc.) but how statistically they're in less danger from strangers than men are. What is going on? How did statistics get so divorced from perceived risk?

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Aella

@Aella_Girl

And fwiw in my personal experience, the men and women I know have had about similar rates of assault from strangers

6:43 PM · Dec 5, 2020

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If I were a woman, I’d be more afraid walking around at night too. I remember after taking karate classes for a while, I felt more confident walking on the streets of New York City. Men are just bigger and stronger. And they aren’t going to be sexually molested.

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I assume it’s due to a perceived physical imbalance more than stats. I actually hadn’t even heard all those stats.

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Well, first, men are assaulting people, not women. Second, do assailants have the same motivation when assaulting men and women? I really don't think so. And of course that doesn't mean men can't be afraid of walking alone at night, but it's definitely different.

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My intuition: men who are assaulted are more likely to have contributed to what led up to the assault than are women who are assaulted. If I'm right, then women's vulnerability might justify their fear. I could be totally wrong tho.

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Are you aware of the Halo Effect and how it affects your perceptions of things? You might want to look into the research rather than depending on your anecdotal experiences.

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Ironically women ate at higjer risk from violence at home. Men are more likely to be victims of interpersonal violence overall but this happens in public mostly

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If man and women are victim of the same rates of violence but women are more actively avoiding to expose themselves to it, that suggests a higher rate of violence per risk taken.