spidergal wrote:Safe? Hah, I mean, can I go around hanging with my gal friends at midnight at the Squares and the malls without worrying about its-late-i-must-go-home thing.
Safety in terms of rape, sexual harrasment, you get the idea,dear Olga?
I think I'm getting the idea, spider.
I think it's rather like dadpad said. You probably would be safe if you applied sensible precautions. For example, I don't think it would be sensible to hang around a place known for trouble, while alone & drunk at midnight! :wink: I often walk down a narrow, rather isolated little street to the shopping centre (very near to where I live) but wouldn't
dream of doing that alone after dark. To the best of my knowledge no one has ever been assaulted, robbed or raped there ... but I'd still prefer to avoid that area after dark.
But you know, I think their are bullies in any place on earth, who would take advantage of a person they perceived to be weaker if the opportunity arose. Any answer I can give you can only be a subjective one. Most of the time I do feel safe. I'm sure sexual harassment does still occur in some work places, but it's something that's generally frowned upon ... besides, you could take the offender to court if you chose to! As for rape, of course it happens. Probably considerably more than we get to hear about. From time to time there are stories in the newspapers about "date rapes", young women being sexually assaulted having drinks "spiked" in night clubs, appalling sexual behavior by sports teams, etc, etc .... But once again, these practices are widely frowned upon & can lead to very damaging publicity, court cases & charges for the offenders. I don't have the facts & figures & statistics to compare these sorts of offences in Australia with other countries, but I'd guess ours would be much the same as those of countries with similar cultures. That doesn't really answer your question, I guess ....
