The Necropolitan Sentinel

His cat's breath smells like cat food.

I've heard of this poop/pee defense recommendation a few times recently from various sources (the, "I'm on my period," defense is a new one on me, though) and I'm starting to wonder if there's any proof that it actually works or does it mostly just serve to humiliate a woman even more?

Way back a million years ago when I was in college there was a somewhat similar rape defense recommendation for female students. It was a called "Mace" and I think it was a slightly more effective deterrent. I know it sounds like crazy talk, but what do I know?

[UPDATE]

Read this excellent anecdotal piece by Bookworm:

I immediately availed myself of the service — only to discover that it wasn’t a service at all. The deal was that these escorts were not allowed to exceed a half-mile radius.  The reason given was that their walkie-talkies didn’t work outside of that radius, so it was unsafe for them to go further. You got that, right?  It was unsafe for the men to exceed a half-mile radius but presumably more safe for the women to continue on their own.

The nice escorts would stand at their little boundary to listen in case they heard your screaming.  Frankly, I really didn’t feel that this auditory aid amounted to much.  You see, the reality of this so-called “escort service” was that I was left on my own on Berkeley’s dark and unfriendly streets.

I'd also like to add that back in my misspent college days there was another defensive technique available to a lot of women, it was called "having a boyfriend". Or to be more precise, "a boyfriend who cared enough to be there and put himself in harm's way to protect you". I realize this is an atavistic anachronism, and was going out of style even then, but it seemed to be effective.

Tweet