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Notes -
I'm a man and my experience on public transportation has included several instances of being menaced by the crazies that have colonized the system. Never been physically attacked but was definitely planning my counter moves on multiple occasions. I have zero doubt that had I been a woman, 'come on, fight me' would have instead been 'come on, fuck me.' I'm secure in the knowledge that I can handle myself in a fight, but if I wasn't, I can see how you'd feel unsafe.
Also consider bystanders. When I see a crazy acting out on the train, yes I'm figuring out exactly the best angle to approach them from if I need to surprise them. But I'm not doing it loudly. I'm not drawing attention to myself. If he's being gross to someone, unfortunately from that person's perspective they're all alone. Imagine how that feels.
I'm glad you haven't had unpleasant encounters with the scum that plagues public spaces, but I wouldn't be so quick to doubt others when they say they have. Is it possible that the type of things they pick up on are things you're tuning out?
As I noted, though, I have had numerous extremely unpleasant encounters with the bottom-dwellers of mass transit; my claim is that the encounters which I’ve observed, either directed at me or happening in my vicinity, have very rarely taken the particular form these women are talking about. I’ve seen countless people acting like assholes on transit, but I’ve seen very few of them specifically menace women in a specialized fashion. It’s that claim, and not a more general claim of bad behavior on transit, which I’m disputing.
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