Last week I wrote a light-hearted piece about my adventures in walking, but there’s something darker I wanted to touch on, and that’s how safe (or otherwise) I feel while doing it.
But you’re in Ashcroft! I hear someone say. Surely you’re not implying it’s not safe to walk there, and in broad daylight? It’s not like you’re walking the back alleys of the Downtown East Side at 3 a.m.
Very true. However, as a woman, I simply can’t afford to be complacent, even in Ashcroft. Take, for example, one part of my walk, a very pleasant stroll down a wide path at the south end of the cemetery. It leads down to the river’s edge, and is lined with trees, and as it’s well below the level of the CP track to the east it’s a lovely shady spot.
Quite early on in my walking I turned at the far end of it to head back up to the cemetery. I was some distance from my starting point, and the path slopes up to it, and I was struck by what a great dramatic shot it would be in a movie, with the heroine turning to see a figure silhouetted at the top of the path. That was almost immediately followed by the realization that if, in real life, someone intent on doing me harm was standing there, I would have no means of escape. The river blocks two sides, and the bank up to the CP line is too steep to climb.
I don’t really think someone would try to block me in there and do something, but I’ve read countless articles over the years warning women to be aware of their surroundings and have an escape route, so it’s not an unnatural thought to occur. It was reinforced not long ago, when I read an article in the Guardian about a recent conference in the UK called Women and Girls’ Safety in Parks.
Among the conclusions was that women should be more involved in the design of Britain’s parks, after research revealed that most women surveyed felt that parks were unsafe, and that better lighting, lower hedges, and “escape routes” were needed. Allison Ogden-Newton, of the environmental charity Keep Britain Tidy, said “It’s critical that we understand what makes women and girls feel safe or unsafe across our green spaces and what needs to change to make them feel able to use their local park.”
I hate to quibble, and making women and girls feel safe in public spaces is a wonderful goal (perhaps they could have been invited to help design Britain’s parks before now, but I digress). However, instead of just making them “feel” safe, could we not try to make them “be” safe?
All those articles about about women’s safety I’ve read put the onus squarely on women to take steps to avoid being attacked, assaulted, sexually assaulted, raped, or murdered; not one has come out and said something like “Hey, we need to do a better job of getting the message to guys not to attack, assault, sexually assault, rape, or murder women, and helping the men that we think might have a tendency to do that.” Not one. The message is always “Ladies, you’re on your own, be careful out there.”
(As an aside, I wonder if there is a comparable wealth of helpful articles for boys and men, telling them not to dress suggestively — whatever the hell that means — and to guard their drinks at parties and public spaces and to always get an escort back to their car which they’ve parked in a well-lit well-travelled spot and to always be aware of their surroundings and to thread their car keys between their knuckles as a makeshift weapon just in case and to always let someone know where they’re going and when they’ll be home. I suspect the answer is no; there are no such comparable articles for boys and men. Think about that for a moment.)
Making women and girls feel safe is a laudable aim, to be sure. It’s disappointing, however, that that seems to be the best we can hope for.
editorial@accjournal.ca
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