News Flash: We're not ALL Criminals

The only problem with such behavior is that it conveys fear. Sure, keep alert to your surroundings and your belongings, but do it in a way that makes you look less fearful. I try to do it in a relaxed way. (I'm actually alert, but I look relaxed.) And oddly enough, when you are a woman and you can be relaxed late at night in a subway car full of men, often THEY will be afraid of YOU because it's so not what they are used to seeing.

Usually, criminals case their victims before they attack, and if you are alert, you can tell when this is happening. I usually look those people straight in the eyes. That deters them, because I'm not acting like a potential victim.

No, but yelling "pubic lice!" instead will certainly keep them at bay.

Hee. Acting crazy never fails. (And it's entertaining, too! ) I love scaring the crap out of a potential attacker by making them think that I'm just a tad more sociopathic than they. Usually I take a situation to its logical extreme until they are so confused or freaked out they run away from me.

How else do you think I got that mugger to give me $50?

liftandcut wrote:
Yeah, some chick grabbed her purse last night when I was walking my brother's dog. Granted, the street light was out and he is a 90lb Amstaff. But still, I WAS wearing a Wellfleet Oysters t-shirt.

liftandcut, remember that you kind of have huge arm muscles. :shock:

when i see any group of teenagers or any group of men (any kind of men), i cross the street. i also cross to the other side of the street when i see children and or strollers, but hey - that's just me.

Liftandcut - as someone who has lived here all my life and as a woman when I come home from work late or on an empty street I tend to zone out and feel more confident than I should so when I hear noise I tend to realize "hey Im not being careful" and I grab my bag a little closer and check my surroundings - its a survival tactic.

Also if I cross the street its not because of who you are but maybe I just decided to cross at that time (no cars coming, etc.). Sometimes a group will be talking loudly and one says something like "oh shit" and that reminds me to pick up kitty litter at the store across the street.

Also you have to see it from a woman's perspective. I carry so much crap in my bag and believe me ask any woman - no matter what size a woman's purse is there is always too much stuff in it for its size. So you might just be passing me when its starting to give me a pain in the neck and I grab it to alleviate the torture of carrying a heavy bag and shift it around whether it be to the front or the other side.

women are scared of all men.

Santa wrote: women are scared of all men.

Ummmm...... no. But thanks for playing!

caseopele wrote: Yeah, nice generalization there Santa.

I think that was actually a move in the game of gendergentriconfrontation being played out in this thread. tres exciting!