The Reasonable Woman Standard?
According to the U.S Department of Justice, a woman is raped every 2 minutes somewhere in America. In 1995, 354,670 women were the victims of a rape or sexual assault. (NationalCrime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, 1996.) And over the last two years, more than 787,000 women were the victim of a rape or sexual assault. (National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S.Department of Justice, 1996.) While most women are raped by someone they know, a high 31% of female victims reported that the offender was a stranger. What’s more startling than the above statistics is how many rape crimes remain unreported. The FBI estimates that only 37% of all rapes are reported to the police. U.S. Justice Department statistics are even lower, with only 26% of all rapes or attempted rapes being reported to law enforcement officials.
So while the biggest fear men have when walking down a dark alley late at night is the content in their wallets, what most women worry about is the deepest invasion of human dignity. Does the fear paralyze us? Of course not. But it lingers in the back of our minds, a corporal specter personifying sounds and movements into potential phantom assailants. Some women are more aware and cautions than others, just like anything else in life. Me personally, after knowing intimately 2 women that were raped, 2 that were sexually abused, and many more acquaintances that suffered the same fate, it makes a girl a bit more cautious. Rape aside, any sort of potential violence against us is a bigger fear in us, because we are not strong enough, I, e.g, despite the incredible ability to carry a 30-pound backpack every day, cannot fight off ANY average Joe off the street, trust me.
So next time a woman expresses her concern for driving home and walking to her apartment at 4:00 in the morning, please do not acertain that fear as unreasonable. Everyone knows, that the objective standard for “unreasonableness” means that NO REASONABLE PERSON COULD FIND…X, surely, you’re not trying to say that most women are unreasonable, are you? Now if it’s a subjective test you’re employing, then as my friend astutely pointed out, that the standard " is really up to [the individual]… but no jury would convict”. So, for you men out there, next time a woman expresses her fear and concern, empathize, and if you can’t, pretend. After all, why would you want to incur upon yourself a woman's wrath?
