The killing of a 22-year-old nursing student has once again put the spotlight on dangers faced by female athletes who practice sports alone.

  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    78
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    4 months ago

    Please don’t think I want to downplay the horrific nature of this killing, but I don’t quite understand the thrust of this article. It seems to me the problem isn’t about female athletes being somewhere alone being something that they rightly, and very sadly, fear. Because it’s far from just athletes who have that fear when they’re someplace on their own like a woods. Because you don’t have to be an athlete to go into the woods alone and you are at risk as a woman regardless.

    Women are not targets because they’re athletes, they’re targets because they’re women.

    But I would appreciate an explanation of why I’m in the wrong here if I am.

    • MagicShel@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      57
      ·
      4 months ago

      I think you’re right, but I think the angle is female solo athletes must put themselves in danger in order to train with the same freedom of their male counterparts.

    • fidodo@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      4 months ago

      I think it’s just exploring the effect on that specific demographic, not trying to say that it isn’t more wide spread.

    • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      42
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      I actually don’t think this is as true as is often assumed. Men are far more likely to be murder victims than women are.

      Sexual violence is another matter however.

        • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          4 months ago

          I’m not sure. This is a complicated topic and I would assume that a higher proportion of male victims “provoked” their killer in some way. But I don’t know that there’s real data on that. I also think we need to acknowledge that this fact does not justify their deaths.

    • UNWILLING_PARTICIPANT@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      4 months ago

      I recently started jogging through this long, dark trail that hosts a nearby homeless encampment, and honestly didn’t think about it at all until my partner raised her eyebrow at where I was jogging. Just one of those little patriarchy taxes that I don’t have to pay.

      Not that unhoused people are particularly dangerous or anything, but still you’re less certain if you’re going to meet someone on a really bad day there

      • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        4 months ago

        I’m a man and I wouldn’t think going on that trail would be a good idea, unless there were lots of other joggers there at the same time. I don’t fear being alone in the countryside but I’m much more wary in an urban area.

    • Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      16
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      4 months ago

      While a lot of these were certainly relevant in 1990, i think we’ve made great progress in some areas; particularly around precipitation of cognitive abilities, employment, and corporate position.

      Women still suffer a shitpile around children/family views and, as you and this article point out, victimization from sexual assault and violence.

      We could still do with a decrease in men thinking the sun rises out of their assholes, despite being marginal in performance or social values. Far too many basement trolls wallowing in a muddy mixture of Dorito dust and mountain dew, thinking they know it all.

      We men also need to do a L O T of work on developing emotional intelligence, healing wounds from toxic masculinity (boys don’t cry) and passing this on to future generations.

      E; I was trying to reply to the guy who posted the list of white male privileges but failed fantastically.

      Grumbles as he crawls back into his hole to die

  • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    27
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    edit-2
    4 months ago

    Yeah whenever I’m out at night it’s:

    Knife? Check.

    Taser? Check.

    Pepper spray? Check.

    Keychain screamer? Check.

    Hope I don’t die! 🙃