You can walk me home (but I was a boy too)

Longish but fantastic post on street safety and the societal norm that women need to be accompanied after dark, complete with a range of personal anecdotes that will ring familiar to many women and men.

... a well-meaning male friend recently expressed guilt for “letting” Laura walk home alone. All too often, women’s decisions about their own safety are not respected. Laura also criticizes the flip side of this -- the injustice to the man of having to feel that he is still responsible for a woman’s safety even when she has turned down his help.

There are real safety issues here, but they aren't as clean as the social norms seem to imply, and the solutions aren't always an improvement...

(link via Alas a Blog; title via Dar Williams)