Police advising women not to walk alone at night

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

I’ve seen a lot of friends outraged at the Met police locally advising women not to walk alone at night in the days following the disappearance of Sarah Everard. I’ve seen a posts along the lines of ‘how about telling men not to attack women instead?’

I absolutely agree with the wider point that we should be asking the question “how do we make it safe for women?” not “how do women stay out of danger?”

But in this case, was the police’s advice not just the equivalent of advising people to stay out of the water following a shark attack?

I’m so upset and angry about Sarah Everard but I cannot get incensed about the police advising women to take precautions when an unknown attacker may have still been in the area.

Your shark reference is gross and goady.

Go and support a curfew for men if you think one gender staying indoors is the answer.

@NoGoodPunsLeft

Better recent evidence suggests it's policemen who shouldn't walk alone at night lest they abduct and murder a woman

Yep. It's bloody scary when you feel like you can't even trust the police to keep you safe

Like not trusting black cab drivers after Warboys. Predatory men will take advantage by purporting to be people we are predisposed to trust. Makes it hard to teach girls who they can trust implicitly apart from saying “er no one really, be on your guard always” . Not how we should be living our lives.

Another vote for curfew, each and every time, including policemen, until the blokes start reining in their own. Ffs, I'm middle-aged and Take Back The Night started when I was born. Every single man either knows and/or is rapist, a woman-beater, an aggressor. Let them handle it.

Turns out that the police should be advising women to be on the lookout for ... policemen who are out to abduct and murder them.
Maybe they need to have a greater police presence so we can go on out our daily business as we choose without being fearful of men attacking us?

Yes. OP, such is the blindness to reality, that women are being told that men are a danger to them. That they might prey on them, and possibly murder them.
Are they confirming that men are a danger to women? It would be good if we talked about this. It's hard to talk about it when men don't always see women as the fellow humans that they are. Men have to learn how to do this because women are exhausted.

@greenlynx

@ PicsInRed Thank you. BBC hasn’t got anything yet neither Sky news. If it’s true it’s outrageous.

My sense is that it was such an outrageous and incendiary suggestion (especially if it turns out to be true!) that the more conservative publications are playing wait and see.

If it turns out to be the case, I'm not sure how lockdown would be remotely enforceable anymore.

That's disproportionate. You can't blame a whole group for the actions of one person. Most men do not murder strangers.

Might focus some male minds on how they can assist in stopping this bollocks if their behaviour had to change. On how they should have part of the collective responsibility towards the predatory members of their own sex, rather than it just being down to women.

Not all of us have the luxury of staying inside or not walking alone.
Sometimes I finish work at 9 or 10pm, and I have to walk to a multi storey car park.
If i got the bus I would have to walk 10 minutes from the bus stop to home.
I cant afford taxis.
I hate it. It scares me.
I hold my keys in my hand and keep my head up.
I know if I come across someone who wants to rape or kill me there will be nothing I can do to stop it.
That crosses my mind.
That that could happen to me.
On my way home from work.
Its not ok to be living with this level of fear.

No one should be walking alone in unsafe areas at night....... Statistically men are more at risk than women from other men. Given that men who attack / rape complete strangers aren't going to stop doing that anytime soon DP and I both minimise the risk by taking measures to protect ourselves.

The message about getting taxis home and minimising alcohol etc should be going out to both genders.

Men who loom up behind women {joggers} can be alarming.

BUT the only times I have been attacked have been by women, each time younger ones who were strangers to me ..{In daylight}

A young man came to my aid, bless him and dragged her off at risk to himself..Men can be heroes too.

@AnyFucker

The Yorkshire Ripper was attacking women in the 1970’s and 80’s. We should have moved on since then. If you watched The Ripper the women were blamed for their attacks, some of them smeared as sex workers when they were not.

The fact that several of them were sex workers has absolutely nothing to do with it. There isn’t a scale of women with those at the bottom more deserving of rape and murder than those at the top.

@OhWhyNot

How about men having to be restricted more because of male violence than women always having to restrict their lives

We might see an attitude change then

What do you think this would change, seriously?

Like, I get the sentiment, but what would the average, law-abiding male actually be spurred into doing that he currently doesn't do to stop men attacking women?

But in this case, was the police’s advice not just the equivalent of advising people to stay out of the water following a shark attack?
If you're happy to liken men to sharks, sure.
It's in the same vein as the tired old trope that women should dress 'modestly' etc etc because 'you wouldn't leave your house unlocked and valuables out', which ascribes the same status to women's bodies as to objects.

Re ''Unsafe areas''...Richmond Green at 7.30 am on a sunny Summer's morning....

Can't get much more pleasant than that.

The girls tried to stop me screaming, by putting a hand over my mouth, and I was able to bite down as hard as possible on her finger.

They mugged me.

Whats making the area unsafe is violent men.
A curfew on men would solve my problem with the walk to the multi storey nicely.
I have to work late.
I cant afford taxis
So what do I do?
Suppose it will be my own fault if anything happens to me.
Silly girl walking in the dark alone.
How else am I supposed to get home from work?

At uni my DD would walk, in day light, past groups of men drinking or working on building sites and get called names, stared at and propositioned whilst carrying shopping back to her halls.

The uni did nothing when she complained and gave the building companies name and the name of the pub.

We live in a male dominated society, as witnessed by little done about domestic violence, austerity saw refuges closed down, women turned away who needed help and the shockingly low rape conviction figures.

But we vote for all this, so only have ourselves to blame.

That's disproportionate. You can't blame a whole group for the actions of one person. Most men do not murder strangers

You’re right, however, what is also correct is that most murders, either stranger or familiar, are committed by MEN.

Most men are not opportunistic murderer,s but those that are are not going to think ,ah I have been told to stop Raping and Murdering so I will ,yes of course women shouldn't have to fear walking home alone ,but if there is a predatory male waiting for an opportunity,than I doubt curfews and police telling them not to do it will deter them

@JosieJarker

Whats making the area unsafe is violent men. A curfew on men would solve my problem with the walk to the multi storey nicely. I have to work late. I cant afford taxis So what do I do? Suppose it will be my own fault if anything happens to me. Silly girl walking in the dark alone. How else am I supposed to get home from work?

I'm not sure the kind of man who wants to attack a woman would be put off by a curfew, that's the problem.

The advice would only make sense if the police thought there was a serial killer on the loose.

Maybe we should all take some responsibility for educating the men close to us what it's like to know someone is walking behind you, and having some concern that their intentions may not be good.

99.9% of men would totally respect this - although it may need spelling out in words of one syllable!

May be a coincidence, but I was walking along a canal towpath on my own today. I didn't hear a runner coming behind me, and I jumped out of my skin when he came alongside me. He was quite upset and really apologetic - turned round a couple of times to apologise again. I wondered if a woman in his life had pointed out how unintentionally men can make women feel vulnerable - even old ones like me!

Curfew for men after 6pm? What a ridiculous suggestion. Impacting the civil liberties of the 99.999% of law abiding men. Meanwhile the 0.001% of men intent on attacking women wouldn’t let a curfew stop them.

No one should be walking alone in unsafe areas at night Why don't we try to make 'unsafe' areas (whatever they are) safer, rather than telling people they can't walk where they choose?

The message about getting taxis home and minimising alcohol etc should be going out to both genders.
Do you think women don't get attacked by taxi drivers? Do you think women who don't drink alcohol don't get attacked?

@SnackSizeRaisin

Place a curfew on men then. Job done.

That's disproportionate. You can't blame a whole group for the actions of one person. Most men do not murder strangers.

Plus it would probably have the reverse effect in that law abiding men would stay home, so there would be fewer people about generally to deter the small number of opportunist criminals.

This sort of crime is vanishingly rare and there's no need for anyone to change their behaviour, apart from in the immediate aftermath until they make sure they've got the person that did it. Which is exactly what they've advised

I had the same thought about women. If fewer women are walking because of this advice, it's even less safe for those that are.

The same platitudes are wheeled out every time something like this happens, but there's never much actual thinking behind it.