Capn's Blog

[CapnAwesome]

I think the risks are far over exaggerated. I know lots of women on the road by themselves. Especially if you are in the rock climbing world. It's not like this is some sketchy road bum shit. It's all in the context of being surrounded by very trustworthy people. I'd even go so far as to say your risk of rape is no higher than anyone else, and for girls on the road in the climber world who live in a van, less.

I heard of a woman who traveled to south america via land by herself. I did it with a military vet who did two tours in Afghanistan and grew up in Venezuela. So there are some badass fearless chicas put there

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It's a play on that.

But how are you with trustworthy people if you're by yourself? Lol. I dunno... sleeping in a tent out somewhere and hitchhiking doesn't seem like a safe thing for a woman to do at all. I'm not criticising it, just saying. It's cool that you're living life in a way that is fulfilling to you.

You aren't in a tent by yourself in the middle of nowhere. I don't know that I've ever been 'in the middle of nowhere ' 95% of the time I'm in a climbers campground. Which means you are surronded by very safe and protective people. Not only have I never been around any violence towards women in a climber campground, I've never even heard of such a thing. If someone did that to one of the lady-dirtbags, (which there are many) they'd be buried in the desert. It's a very small tight knit community where everyone knows everyone, so there is no violence, nor is there any theft. I used to leave thousands of dollars of climbing gear in my tent without a second thought. People bring their kids to these places, they literally could not be safer.

Hitchhiking is a slightly different story, although once again, I've never heard of anything bad happening to anyone. I think the stigma against hitchhiking is largely fictional and based on nothing in reality. It's amazing that people who will never hitchhike will take a cab, or get a rideshare off of craiglist, both of which seem like an easier way for someone to be predatory towards someone.

That being said, a little caution would be advisible if you were a woman alone. Like having a phone, letting people know where you are, and not getting into a cat with multiple men. But that being said I'm 99% certain you'd be fine. Also a woman alone gets rides so easily that you could only take rides from other women or people you felt 100% certain about.

On a side note, when I was hitching, I got picked up by women alone with surprising frequency. Old ladies, even a high school student. I even went on a couple of dates with girls who picked me up before.

The stigma just doesn't match the reality. I think it's mostly spread from the concept that if you don't live a conforming life, something baaaad will happen to you, but that's just not true. Definitely my life is many times safer than living in an inner city, and is for the women who live the same way as well.