There are things you notice when 'changing gender' that perhaps cis people wouldn't.
One such example has occured to me this week whilst on my holiday in Rhodes. Two nights ago, on my return back to the hotel after my evening meal, two lads said "hello" to me as I passed. I was polite and returned the greeting but privately thought, "ooh, I hope they're not going to be trouble".
Last night they were there again and tried to strike up a conversation and I was polite in my response but kept walking.
Well, afterwards, last night I had a dream in which they attacked me which prompted me to think what steps I could take if they turned out to be the kind of lads who don't take "no" for an answer.
Now, if we reverse the roles, and a young lady says hello and tries to strike up a conversation with two lads, are those lads scared? Do they go home and have nightmares? Do they plan what to do if they are attacked? I somehow doubt it.
So, whilst I wouldn't want men to stop being nice to passing strangers, I think it might help if they appreciated that women don't generally have the capacity to impose themselves on men and threaten violence and death whereas men do generally have that capacity over women.
It leads to a situation where nothing appears to be innocent and women are continual prey. Thus no one should be surprised when the prey is nervous of being attacked.
But are there steps that can be taken to change that?
