Jean-Paul writes:

I just read your comment on VFR about Chelsea King, the pretty young girl who disappeared while running alone in the park in California. [More comments can be read here.]

Some young girls know more things than others. 

I learned a lesson from my child when I walked down a crowded downtown street on a summer day a few steps behind her and her equally beautiful girlfriend. I had never really been aware of the ravenous, aggressive stares unaccompanied young women receive from a certain type of male. These were not looks of admiration, they were of another order entirely. It amazed me at the time because those same males were totally discreet when I walked on that street with my very attractive wife; their glances at her were of admiration and very brief. They are cowards, of course, since she was not alone and I am as big as them and I am unafraid of violence, win, lose or draw. They seem to be able to read this. 

Such a shame that it always seems to come down to the same nasty old thing; violence or the credible possibility thereof. Then they leave you alone.

              — Comments —

Eleanor writes:

Karen B. in the thread at VFR claims to be confused about why a woman can’t run around in a civilized society at a certain hour, skimpily dressed. I’ve seen these kinds of comments before. The Karen B.’s are always “confused.” We aren’t a civilized nation if we abort babies and allow criminals lots of freedom to prey on women. We aren’t a civilized nation if we let our young women dress like prostitutes. One woman I know was appalled at the clothing sold for little girls. She asked the manager at a store, “Do you have anything for little girls, or toddlers, that is not prostit-tot wear? 

And Karen B wants to argue, like Olive in Henry James’ The Bostonians, that the sun should be shining when it is not. The sun quit shining on our nation for various reasons. We can’t expect Gods protection if we reject God’s laws. He gave women protection in various forms: modest clothing, fathers, husbands. Feminism removed that protection and stomped all over it. The only way to make things right is to go back to what the Bible calls the old paths, where the good walk is.

Karen B. writes:

Obviously women can’t go around safely in public in skimpy attire, or any attire, at 6 p.m. or at any other hour of the day. In fact, women can’t safely sit in our houses. Polly Klaas was abducted, raped, and murdered by a similar recidivist monster from her bedroom with an adult present in the house. This scenario is not significantly different. Mr. Auster conflates two different types of victims: the victim who behaves foolishly and the victim who does not. Travelling alone late at night through a dangerous neighborhood, or simply one that is unknown to you, is foolish no matter what the state of the society around you. In a healthy sane society, however, a public park at 6 p.m. is as safe as your bedroom. This doesn’t mean that under current circumstances it is a smart idea to let a teenage girl run around alone at any hour of the day anywhere, but this is because in our crazy society, your bedroom is just as dangerous as the park at 6 p.m.

Laura writes:

A park far from help and other people, even at 6 p.m, is much more risky. You can lock the doors of your home and predators can be seen approaching. But a park surrounded by vacant trails, brush and open wasteland is not safe for a young woman by herself at any hour. Chelsea obviously believed it was. It is staggering news that a woman was attacked there in December and yet people apparently did not know about it. 

N.W. writes:

Karen B. writes: “but this is because in our crazy society, your bedroom is just as dangerous as the park at 6 p.m.” 

I beg to differ. There’s a shotgun with double ought buck in my bedroom. People should always feel secure in their homes, at the very least, healthy society or otherwise. The home or “household” has always ideally been a safe and secure place even if the rest of the world seemed a tad sketchy.

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