don't blame high fructose, blame disproportionate victimization of women by the news media.

I work from about 9 AM to around 8PM every day, with weekends pending (and 8 PM is on a good day). I am not about to get up earlier, and make myself more exhausted, to try and get to the early morning hot yoga class offered at 6:00 AM in the Village. It isn't that I'm lazy, it's that I work 10 hour days (on average) and I am NOT a morning person. Also, for some sad reason, hot yoga is not a 24 hour sport. Those who like to run on treadmills, lift weights, and use machines have the happy advantage of gyms such as 24 hour fitness, but what about those of us who prefer getting in tune with the world to tuning it out?
When my favorite, hot, stretchy exercise option opts out, the next best thing for me is a late night run. I love to be in the cool night air after a hot summer day, and it is a lot more inspiring to be running somewhere, with the grass whizzing by, than working like a gerbil in an air conditioned gym. Here is the problem: I get off at 8, am hungry but try not to eat anything too full of sodium and preservatives so dinner takes until around 9 to be cooked, eaten, and stored. Everyone who runs knows that you should NOT run on a recently filled stomach (unless cramps and stomach aches are your style). This puts me ready to run at around 9:30 or 9:45, 10:00 PM to be safe.
But it is this preoccupation with "safe" that ends up being my problem! I have been reminded my entire life that, as a young girl and now a young woman, everywhere is dangerous. When I'm alone, when I'm on my phone, when I'm listening to music, when it's dark, when it's light, in parking garages, in parks, at gas stations, in hotels, anywhere (it seems) where I am alone is a threat to my safety. Awareness, and an eye critical of ones surroundings, is important no matter who or where you are. Despite the goodness at the center of every human, there is a darkness that sometimes prevails. I'm not saying that a good, healthy sense of caution is bad! I am saying that a media-induced paranoia isn't healthy for anyone, especially not someone as prone to reality-based anxiety as myself.
So, I decided to check out the National Bureau of Justice Statistics to see if my fear was supported by evidence, and this is what I learned:
There is an obvious disparity between genders as the victims of violent crime (a category that includes rape and murder). From graphs who start in the seventies with a dramatic divide, I can see that men are more likely to be the victims of such crimes. As recently as 2005, men were 4 times more likely to be said victims than women. Also, the United State Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)'s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program showed that 78.7% of the known victims of murders were male. Seventy-eight percent is an overwhelming number in a culture where women are supposed to be the main targets of murder and violent crime. So, if men are statisticly more likely to be the victims of murder and violent crime, why is it that our culture tells women that they are the ones who should be afraid? Why should I cower on my couch, feeling lazy and itching for some night air at a park, in fear of something that is unsupported by historical and recent evidence?
The BJS and FBI do, however, note that the only area where women are more likely to be victims than men is in cases of sexual assault. No surprise there. It seems the media was actually being helpful on this one. So, even if I am statistically less likely to be murdered whilst out for my midnight jog, I am more likely to be raped, still providing reason for me to stay indoors, right? According to RAINN, the Rape Incest & Abuse National Network, 73% of of rapes are "perpetrated by a non-stranger." Hm. Assuming that my acquaintances, friends, and family aren't lurking in the shadows at the neighborhood park, it seems to me that this is another false fear that the media feeds us "post-feminist" (just ask Ginia Bellafante) females.
Before I continue, I want to make perfectly clear that I am not trying to treat the subjects of rape or murder, lightly. Both are serious, incredibly violent, disgusting crimes and should always be treated as such. What I am trying to say here is that, according to these sources, we are paying too much attention to the wrong factors, and we are being pushed to do so by mass media. Nightly news reports consistently reinforce the female as the victim. Men are not being sufficiently informed of their susceptibility to such crimes, and who knows what effect this is having on their safety. Women are being told that strangers far from home are the culprits that need to be watched, when really they are in much more danger from the people they already know, and this is all part of a long running conversation that the media has yet to acknowledge and take part in.
Being alert to real danger is good, but being held back by unrealistic fear isn't. I may be nervous, (after being brought up in our culture, how could I not?) but I plan on running when I want, and where I want from now on. I will also try to be more aware of the real dangers posed much closer to home, so I can more effectively protect myself.