Society teaches us things, all of us. We are conditioned to do certain things and not others by what the social norms are. The problem with this training is that is not necessarily teaching us the proper things to do in many situations. I think this informal training is doubly bad when it comes to women. I believe that women are now in a grey area as far as what our society expects of them. In the course of daily events it probably isn't much of a factor but on the edges or in certain situations this dichotomy creates problems.

For example, you are riding on a bus with many empty seats and someone comes along and sits on the seat directly next to you. This is unusual behavior, and the most common reactions among women are to either move seats, or to try to ignore the person. It is rare that a woman would tell the person to move. Women I have asked said that they didn't want to be rude or impolite.

We would all agree that sitting too close to someone you don't know when there is room available is already rude or impolite. It is clear that such a person is either ignorant of the social convention or willfully disregarding it. It is the second category that matters most. This could very well be a reconnaissance by a criminal to determine how much resistance a potential victim will offer him.

Women frequently get the advice of "have someone walk you to your car." Applying this advice to two women is basically hoping that nobody will attack you because there is a witness. This is not an active defense and is of limited deterrent value. Better advice would be 'be prepared to defend yourself.'

Women are expected to function in our society in many of the same roles as men, but the expectations for self-protection are not there. Our society still conditions women to some extent that men will protect them, despite various factions of the feminist movement declaring equality and the diminishing number of men that are both capable and inclined to protect them.

This confusion can have disastrous results. I have seen a few women adopt a nose-to-nose stance with a man, start shoving and threatening to 'kick his ass' only to get punched out. They didn't expect that the man would actually respond to them in the same way that he would another man exhibiting the same behavior.

When I look at Flickr:What is in your bag I see a lot of vanity items, snacks, and entertainment but very little in the way of practical equipment. It is clear that these people are well prepared for their lives to go as planned, and small deviations from that plan would be an emergency. Not having gum isn't an emergency, not having a flashlight might be.

Women are certainly capable of defending themselves and they should be conditioned to do so. A lot is made of the physical strength disparity between genders. It is true, but it is not the whole story. The fact is that most women are less inclined to use to physical force to defend themselves as early as men are. Women tend to want to negotiate well past the point that violence is called for. Self-defense isn't always a matter of besting the assailant in a physical conflict, but rather inflicting enough harm to make an escape and discourage pursuit.