""So, what you are saying is that people should abdicate all responsibility for their safety and rely on "society" to protect them?""

Putting your words into my mouth does not make you right.

Of course one should watch out for open manholes, in order not to fall in, but rapists do not carry badges advertising what they are.

Nor do rapists form a majority of males, in fact they are probably a tiny minority of the breed.

Also, it has been well established, further up this thread, that only a tiny minority of rape victims are in the the group you categorise as risk takers.

As to relying on "society", that is a nonsensical statement.

We all rely on the "criminal justice system" to protect us from lawbreakers.

You are more likely to be mugged, than any individual woman is to be raped.

Do you stay at home with your doors locked?

NO! Of course you don't.

You are more likely to be involved in a car crash, than a woman is to be raped.

Do you sell your car and move to an uninhabited island?

NO! Of course you don't.

Why NOT?

Because to do either would be a ridiculous overreaction, and you would rightly be enraged if anyone told you that you were responsible for putting yourself in harms way.

Take one individual woman, and she might meet one hundred men without a single one being a rapist.

So you expect her to protect herself by projecting as unattractive an image as possible, and staying away from places of entertainment, and treating all men with the ultimate of suspicion.

Assuming she does everything on that list, she is still more likely to be raped than her friend who ignores the precautions.

Something screwy there, don't you think?

Don T.