This story about young men being vulnerable to random attacks reminded me of a discussion I had during a recent cycle ride. I learnt of an off-road route of which I was previously unaware, the Greenway, which would help me to construct a circular half-day route around London – Greenwich, Woolwich, along the Greenway to the Regent’s Canal, then Islington and home. Not a quick route, but pleasantly off-road.
But someone I was discussing this with said “that’s not a route for a woman on her own”. And it is through some dodgy areas of London, and a woman cyclist overhearing commented she’d done it but been spooked by the burnt-out cars.
I said, however, that as a woman I was quite likely safer on that sort of route – a woman is much less likely to be seen as a challenge, perhaps a territorial challenge – to the local youths.
Not to say that it is absolutely safe, of course, but why do these warnings only get given to women, and not to the men who are at least as much at risk of harm?
About
6 Comments