Sexual objectification of the fairer sex increases their fear crime, says a new study.
A study by Laurel Watson from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, offers an explanation for why women fear face-to-face crime more than men, despite being less likely to experience most crimes. The findings support the theory that women may have a greater fear of crime due to the potential of also being raped during these encounters.
The researchers also found that sexual objectification plays a role in the ever- present perceived risk and fear of crime in both white and African American women.
The study involved 133 African American and 95 white female undergraduates. Women at college experience rates of rape five-to-seven times higher than women of comparable age outside college.
Professor Watson said that women bear the scar tissue of a sociocultural context where rape is epidemic. Challenging and eradicating the widespread acceptance of sexual terrorism, in its many forms, is key to increasing women's sense of safety, freedom and movement in the world.
Many measures, such as avoiding walking alone at night or carrying a method of protection - a sharp object or pepper spray - place the onus of maintaining safety on women rather than on the perpetrators of violence.
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Partnerships with men in stopping violence may help transform unequal power distributions between men and women - a chief reason why violence against women occurs in the first place, said Watson.
The study is due to appear in Sex Roles, published by Springer.