The Connection between Gender and Urban Space - Essay Example

April 22, 2007 The Connection between Gender, Fear and Urban Space There is a clear and distinct difference between the male and female genders that pose not only inter-relational intricacies and obstacles, but create larger scale societal challenges. Due to the inherent biological fact that a woman’s physical build is typically smaller than a man’s build manifests a world of difficult variables alone. From a superficial point of view, women must often be more hyper vigilant in their everyday pursuits than must their counterparts. Though men face many territorially induced defensive challenges, the chance that they will be met with someone of weaker or lesser physical ability than women is more likely. While there are men who have small physical builds in comparison to other men, it is more likely to find a man with a build larger than a woman’s than to find the opposite scenario. Given this difference it is clear that, generally, women face a set of obstacles that most men will not have to ever experience. On the other hand, because of seeming biologically driven needs to defend one’s space, men are often faced with challenges that, similarly, women will unlikely ever have to face. Thus, as distinct as each gender’s biological makeup creates them to be, so too are the vast differences between the obstacles they must face. These differing gender fear invoking issues will be examined within the context of urban space. The urban environment can pose many stress inducing variables for any individual despite gender. Crime, natural disasters, and other such factors create a spectrum of varying fear and anxiety inducing possibilities for both men and women on a daily basis. Needing to be extra careful with personal possessions in public arenas and making sure to be respectful of an individual’s space are added factors that become automatic parts of one’s thought process while living in an urban environment. While both genders must face many similar urban space stressors, the differences begin to come to play when situations become more dependent on a person’s gender versus, for instance, specific environmental weather factors. For women, urban life poses specific problems due to biological factors. Because women are generally smaller and physically weaker than men, women must take this into account when they travel alone or even with other women to specific urban destinations. “Fear leads women to take precautions which are often spatial, such as avoiding certain parts of the city or not going out after dark” (Koskela, 1999, pp. 111). In other words, the reality of a harsh urban environment can often create a situation in which women are limited to certain areas dependent upon time of day, their gender subsequently handicapping their spatial freedom and inhibiting their sense of security and inherent free rights. This can psychologically affect a woman’s sense of human dignity and further add to her minority status. As a result of these restrictive, urban environmental affects, a woman must figure out how to deal with such limitations in the best way she knows how to and come to accept that as a woman there are things that she cannot do that her counterpart can. This can be quite a difficult realization for many women to come to terms with. Many struggle to accept the reality that their gender places them in. “Thus, I single out women, not because they are exclusively the victims of violence in public space, but because they are especially vulnerable” (Koskela, 1999, pp. 111). Not only do women have to worry that they may be victim to rape, crime and other such societal aberrations, they must additionally fear specific times of the day and locations just to make sure they are safe, a crippling and troubling dilemma that can only be remedied when society’s level for the value of human dignity can be raised significantly across all realms of status, gender, and age. However, avoiding specific locations and times does not ensure a woman’s socially endangered safety in an urban setting. In addition, a woman must also worry during various moments of the day. She must be sure to avoid people who verbally debase her and may pose a more serious threat to her. For example, a threatening figure may follow and try to physically assault her. Even if a woman takes extra care to not be in highly dangerous places, she is still subject to the effects of a densely packed population that can be negatively affected by lack of spatial freedom and the aggressive, frightening consequences that can unfold as a result. On the other hand, men must face a set of urban influenced anxieties that consist some of the same challenges that women face as well as those that are a product of their gender type. While women may avoid certain areas and traveling certain times of the day, men face specific time and location threats also. Men often fear getting into altercations with other men at many times throughout the day for the smallest misinterpreted look or word. This can leave men hyper vigilant of their environment in a much different manner than women. For example, they must take extra care to make sure that they do not look or accidentally cross into a male stranger’s space for fear of conflict. The stress and fear of potential conflict that can occur at any given moment or location can have an adversely negative affect on a man’s psychological well being. In addition, this phenomenon poses more psychologically worrisome factors given the predicament that if a man consciously decides to avoid certain times and locations it can be a subject of ridicule and emasculating material for other men who are aware of these restrictions. The societal pressures for men to “be a man” and display only strong character traits can be a daunting and difficult task to ask of any man. On top of being the “breadwinner” and a source of strength for women, these factors can all combine to create a pressure laden phenomenon for men. Though man may have more biological strength than the average woman, he must face the consequences of this added power. He must face other men who have aggressive and defensive tendencies. He must also make sure that he is either in great physical shape or physically large enough to intimidate most potential attackers by consciously gaining weight. If he does not, he falls prey to bully personalities that jump at the opportunity to take out their aggressive tendencies on weak and easy victims. On a different scale, women must also face the danger of physical assault from other women. Though the physical strength of the female gender may seem to be less powerful in comparison to the capacity found within the male gender, to another woman it can be just as frightening and intimidating. Uniquely, the aggressive nature of women with a bullying type of personality can often be more subtle, vicious and psychologically based. For example, within cliques women can ostracize other women for small differences leaving the black listed women alone and “marked” social outcasts. They can resort to fights that include hair pulling, scratching as well as fist punching. Sexual assault is another serious issue that spatial problems introduce to men. Though from a societal point of view, sexual assaults on men might not be as highly publicized, these are human transgressions that men fear and are faced with more often than most people might think. The fear of not only upsetting larger, more physically powerful men is not only a daily worry for men, it is multiplied when the aggressor has homosexual or sexually disturbed deviations. In this case, men must also fear rape and human debasement. The idea that despite their physical strength they can still be physically and sexually assaulted can further emasculate and emotionally scar a man’s sense of his place and role in the world as a protector. In general, society expects men to be able to take care of themselves while the same expectation is not as equally required or placed on women. A gender difference that can be difficult to maintain or feel safe with when men suddenly realize that they can be completely stripped of their dignity by the hands of another person. The growing population in already densely packed urban locations has much to do with the increasing fear and anxiety provoking situations that both male and female counterparts must face and deal with everyday. Like studies have shown, too many of any inhabitant in a small spatial location can lead to an increase in aggression, depression and other negative side effects. There is a vital need among humans and animals for space to call their own and when this space is invaded repeatedly conflict occurs. The idea of fight or flight is thus illuminated and the aggressive versus depressive affects come to light. While specific fears and situations are predictable for the individual genders both men and women must face an increasing multitude of conflicts due to the lack of urban spatial freedom a booming population has caused. To focus on which gender suffers more damages or problems from the reality of the situation does not solve the predicament at hand. It is clear that both men and women suffer from more socially influenced fears in a day, in urban settings, than are healthy for anyone to have to deal with or endure. The problem that must be dealt with and discussed is one of a greater scale; one that deals with an overabundant population that continues to grow too quickly for a specific locations’ resource capabilities and safeguard remedies, i.e. nonprofit public services and the like. Specific measures need to be taken on furthering pre-parental education and the severe effects the lack of such programs can have on society and their own lives as well. People often do not think about such situations because they do not believe it will affect their lives. They believe that such problems will happen to someone else and not them. But the reality of the situation is that another person’s child can affect your life and the life of your loved ones. If one person is uneducated and suffers the ill-effects of a limited urban spatial environment without healthy outlets to express his or her stress, they could potentially victimize someone you know or love. This is why public measures to promote more education and public awareness for the serious problems we are facing are essential for everyone to participate and get involved in. The problems cannot be blamed on one person or situation for it does no good in promoting a positive change and instead delays proactive measures. The situation must be taken in as a whole and dealt with in a non-blaming, solution focused manner. Together as a society we can make positive change happen, but we must unite with our ideas. In an overpopulated urban setting, we are all essentially potential victims to a serious problem. We all need understanding, help and compassion to overcome this epidemic. We all must look to one another and realize that we have all faced struggles and fears that have assaulted our sense of dignity and humanity. We must not turn these experiences into excuses to feel hate toward one another. We must instead use them as red flags that change needs to happen. And, we need to realize and accept that the only way this will happen is if we all work together to make it a reality. Work Cited Koskela, Hille 1999, ‘Gendered Exclusions: Women’s Fear of Violence and Changing Relations to Space’, Geografiska Annaler, Series B: Human Geography 81 (2), pp. 111. Read More