We are led to believe that women are at very high risk of being attacked on our streets by lurking creeps. And when night falls, it is a sign of chivalry for “a good bloke” to escort “the fairer sex” to safety.
While women are much more frightened of street crime, men are at much higher risk – this is known as the ‘fear of crime gender paradox’. Men in Australia (and most places in the world) are at much higher risk of being stabbed, shot, and beaten-up by strangers.
In fact, the most recent statistics from the Australian Institute of Criminology indicate that men are 11.5 times more likely than women to be killed by a stranger. Women are, however, at much higher risk than men of random sexual harassment and sexual assault in public.
