4 October

I wondered about posting this, it seems a topic that's difficult to discuss without some degree of hysteria. This image is one I saw on FB, and lists advice to women for how to avoid sexual assault in public places. Some of it seems practical, but at the same time this is the problem I see - it encourages us, men and women, to think of sexual assault and rape as things that strangers commit. That's only true in the minority of cases, overwhelmingly women are sexually assaulted at or near home, by their own partners. And I think what this well-meaning sort of advice does is encourage a degree of anxiety bordering on hysteria about the danger to women, in public places, while distracting us from the biggest problem here, which is domestic violence. Part of addressing sexual assault is for women to not be terrified every time they go outside the house - they're safer going out than staying in, as it turns out. (And domestic violence in turn is hugely correlated with alcohol consumption.) And it's this magnified fear that in turn makes discussions of the topic difficult, because the fear and anger get so intense, it makes real conversation and problem-solving very difficult.