# Solo Female Travelers



## Shwillam (Jun 20, 2017)

So Ive found that there is an extremely important conversation that we need to have with our wonderful community.
Before I begin with this discussion, I want to point out a few disclaimers:

1.) I am a cis-male, and I can only speak from my own personal experience with road dogs and opinions ive heard from female-bodied or cis/trans-female people ive traveled with or had the pleasure of meeting on the road. As a cis-male, my first and foremost opinion on the subject is that whatever I say has very little standing to anyone who is otherwise and
what they have to say on the subject.

2.) Can we please not make this another dude ran discussion? Lets hear what the female bodied people in our
community and culture have to say? Past this, unless I am directly communicated with by a female bodied individual I will keep my mouth shut (or rather my fingers still.)

Now that we have that out of the way, lets get to the point..

Can we please stop with this sexist double standard against solo female travelers? Yes, I acknowledge that female bodied people are more likely to experience harassment or "cat calling." Yes, I realize that traveling alone is more dangerous at times than traveling in a group or with a road dog. But can we all stop trying to act like female bodied people are not capable of defending themselves? Can we stop telling these people that they should go find a male to defend them? Can we stop perpetuating this idea that females are less capable of learning the ropes on their own? Ive never met ONE female bodied person on the road that agrees with this view. Ive personally never met one female bodied person that has been raped based on being on the road alone, the only people ive met that HAVE been violently assaulted it was either by the male they were travelling with, happened when they were younger and not travelling, or were in a group of asshole
guys that were too drunk to help their road dog. In fact, Ive met many more male bodied travelers that had been violently assaulted whether it be sexual assault, robbery, or because we cis-males seem to not know when to stop talking shit before we get hit. I dont like to perpetuate sexism in either direction but lets face it, female bodied people tend to be a lot better at asserting their danger and escaping potentially dangerous situations. They also have way more experience in fighting off aggressive males. 

So, the most important thing i want to say here: Any female bodied green horns or people who plan on travelling keep this in mind; BEING HOMELESS CAN BE DANGEROUS. NO. MATTER. WHAT. You can be as armed and prepared or have the biggest dick in the world and you will still be assessing risks and having to keep yourself safe and healthy. NO matter what gender you identify with or have been assigned, you would be better off finding someone to show you the ropes for the simple fact that the last thing you need to be worrying about is yuppies or people with negative intentions because honestly, if youre smart about it, you will encounter very few of these individuals. Theyd rather go fuck with some helpless yup than
fuck with a hardened punker or houseless folk. DO NOT LET THESE FUCKING DUDES DISCOURAGE YOU FROM DOING WHAT YOU WANT!

Youre biggest threats are exposure, police violence, discrimination against your lifestyle, and natural threats (disease, animals, unprepared camping, ect.) Just because youre female bodied does not mean you need a male to help you, an experienced female traveler might actually be a significantly better choice as they will understand your personal struggle much better than a male traveler.

To every dude in our culture putting these woman down, fuck you. This is not ideology, this is creating a world and culture in which these people who are our EQUALS no longer feel as if they need to depend on men for protection, education, purpose, or financial support. Dont be a sexist. Dont be one of the men who perpetuate this culture where woman are viewd as less capable, or I might just introduce you to one of the many solo female travelers who could easily beat your ass. 

JUST STOP ALREADY.
Female Power! Stay strong and travel hard ladies! 

Now lets hear their views!


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## TheWindAndRain (Jun 20, 2017)

Sirius said:


> Can we stop telling these people that they should go find a male to defend them? Can we stop perpetuating this idea that females are less capable of learning the ropes on their own? Ive never met ONE female bodied person on the road that agrees with this view.




I've never met a person who agrees with that view. Anyone who believed that, I would have to say is an idiot. I am sorry to hear that you have ever met anyone who believed that (have you?).

And I agree that there are many women more capable of defending themselves on the road than a whole lot of men, and Ive met traveling couples for which that was the case. From my experience (about 200,000 miles hitchhiked, alone and with others) I prefer not to travel by hitchhiking, i recommend motorized bicycle and other methods (trains can be safer if you put a lot of effort into safety) . I prefer not to hitchhike with only myself and one girl, nothing against them, it sucks because when I hitchhiked, the creepiness factor of who picked me up, the amount of sheer WIERDos was greatly amplified when i traveled with a couple different women. It felt like it made a risky activity even riskier, and that saddened me.

I feel for their struggles on the road which were greater than mine in that regard.






Sirius said:


> Youre biggest threats are exposure, police violence, discriminationagainst your lifestyle, and natural threats (disease, animals,unprepared camping, ect.)



Disease is a big one in tropical countries. Youre biggest threats are car accidents, wear your seatbelt and always look around and be aware of traffic on foot. Another lesser, but big threat is nefarious people. Bears can be dangerous, but Ive been face to face with several, they never tried to kill me like people did.


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## Oddy (Jun 20, 2017)

Honestly, as a woman I actually find that being on the road is sometimes easier and you get treated better when you're not travelling with guys. In a lot of cases (not all) where I've experienced situations getting dodgy is because of men getting agro with each other. Also the sexism is really surprising in this community and it gets pretty tiring hearing the same male dominated discussions in threads about women travelling solo. We can do better.


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## AaronOnTheRoad (Jun 20, 2017)

I did a little traveling with a transgender. I might have sounded like a bigot or homophobic but i wanted him to know the truth. I told him they aren't going to pick us up with them shorts youre wearing. She got mad and said i don't wanna hitch with you any more.


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## WanderLost Radical (Jun 20, 2017)

I hope my cis-male interruption will be forgiven by this female-written article (What men need to know about women who travel solo)


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## Shwillam (Jun 20, 2017)

I want to point out that you are not interrupting and as usual with your posts i think that was an awesome contribution @WanderLost Radical so please dont take this statement directly towards you (especislly considering that it was a very good article written by a female.) I thank you for this contribution!

But peeps, will some female bodied people please give your opinions on this? I think itll be very constructive to the growth of our community.


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## Minnie (Jun 21, 2017)

I’ve been solo hitching since I was 15. the guy who first showed me the ropes of hitching was an absolute fucking creep. i got stuck in a horrible hippie hole costal hub and several different men gave me the trade secrets of being a rugrat street rat from dumpstering, setting up a good camp, street safety, how to use a knife to storytelling and listening. these were invaluble lessons of saftey that could only be shared by another empathetic human bean.

i’ve been on and off the road since then. mostly settled the past year except a trip every few months. I’ve only had one bad experience and it was intense and violent. the most trouble i believe is when you settle down wherever the destination is.


i don’t think i agree personally with ...


Sirius said:


> but lets face it, female bodied people tend to be a lot better at asserting their danger and escaping potentially dangerous situations. They also have way more experience in fighting off aggressive males.


BC I've found from the experiences of the women ive talked to extensively on this subject, both surviver/victim or not and both solo traveler or not, seem most likely to fall back on flight and freeze. each time i, personally, get hit on by someone im hitching with i initially freeze with fear. my whole life i was conditioned to run or scream for help. a very small percentage of women are taught self defence at a young age. ive spent years overcoming that and to just be able to say 'no'. its very very subjective. on no way do i speak for any other woman who's suffered at the hand of another human. i mean, fuck we live in a time much better than fucking 100, 50, even 20 years ago.

another thing to keep in mind is the ratio of women to men on the road solo when addressing crime according to sex.

http://vawnet.org/sites/default/files/materials/files/2016-09/AR_SAHomelessness.pdf paper on sexual assault for homeless ciswomen vs housed ciswomen. not exactly what youre asking/commenting on. but this shines some light on the risks of homelessness.
A study sponsored by the National Institute of Drug Abuse showed that 41 percent of a randomly selected sample of 460 women staying in homeless shelters had been sexually abused by an adult before age 18.

my greatest threat is not the chance of natural disaster, being a privileged white young cis female with blue fucking eyes living in COLONIAL australia i DO NOT live with the fear of police brutality. im very lucky that 1/2 the cars that pick me up are people who say 'i have never picked up a hitch hiker before' ive had old couples open their home to me. solo fem traveller is as equal good as bad i believe. being alone with a man or woman who has picked me up from the middle of buttfuck when im my most vulnerable is v risky. DONT GO ALONE ON DRUGS OR WITH NO CLUE WHAT YOURE DOING

I know ive got some really good zines stashed somewhere on this topic.. ill attatch when i find them. but yeh

edit.. also dont belittle the fears of women who dont feel safe alone. i reckon the type of mentality of you dont need a protector you can DO IT YOURSELF can --possibly-- be counterproductive and --possibly-- feed into 'your fault' attacks.. not sayin thats what youre trying to say. just be extra aware that PTSD and furthermore C-PTSD is gut twistingly an intangible condition to begin to understand.


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## Shwillam (Jun 21, 2017)

Thanks for your input @Minnie ! Sorry to hear about your violent experience and i hope youre doing ok!

Just want to point out that i also have PTSD and i dont believe that is a direct result of experiences that are gender based but something a lot of travelers and houseless folk have based on discrimination of the lifestyle and the violence associated with such. I also want to make it VERY well known i am not downgrading the female struggle.

I also wanna say that i said specifically violence assosiated to solo female travelers, i believe the causality of females experienceing sexual violence specifically before the age of 18 leads to homelessness rather than the other way around.

Again, im a male. Your experience is significanlty more solid than my opinion.

Nice to hear a females view on the subject. It sucks the majority of responses have been by men so far.

Thanks again for sharing your experience and im excited to hear more.


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## marmar (Jun 22, 2017)

I 've done my fare share of hitchhiking before I moved into my van. There were a couple of creeper truckers, where one was trying to propose politely to me and my roaddog, who was also a girl, we said fuck no he left and we laughed. But when I was with a male roaddog another time, a trucker asked HIM if I was available. So that was pretty offensive. Like hanging with a male at a truck stop automatically made us a hooker and her pimp in their eyes. 
Other then that, I agree with the people above, that more of fucked up and sexist crap comes from males travellers when you travel. 
Travelling solo in the van, it's very common to deal with mechanics and their sexism. But again, when i have a dude in my van it geta worse. Like he is just tagging alone in the van, and i drive, I ask the mechanic all the fuckin questions and he d look at and talk to the dude, not me.
So for instance, If you are a dude in that kind of situation, the best thing you can do is NoT play along with the sexist shit, dont act like you are in charge where you arent really, just because you are percived as the leader of the team based on your sex, but point out to that guy that you are not in charge and the car belongs to the WOMAN. If you are the sexism fighter then do the right thing


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## benton (Jun 24, 2017)

I suspect that the main difference is that many people who will pick up a female will usually not pick up a male.


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## Lost in transit (Jun 25, 2017)

What is a cis male?


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## TheWindAndRain (Jun 25, 2017)

Lost in transit said:


> What is a cis male?



In this context it seems to be someone whose experiences are considered less valid on this thread on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender being too majority or mainstream


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## Lost in transit (Jun 25, 2017)

So cis mean a male? I don't get it....


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## TheWindAndRain (Jun 25, 2017)

Delete


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## benton (Jun 25, 2017)

From Wikipedia:

*Cisgender* (often abbreviated to simply *cis*) is a term for people whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth. _Cisgender_ may also be defined as those who have "a gender identity or perform a gender role society considers appropriate for one's sex".[1] It is the opposite of the term _transgender_.[2]


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## Lost in transit (Jun 25, 2017)

Talking to three women one my mom. No one knows what cis male is. So sis male means being a male?


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## XlilyX (Jun 25, 2017)

TheWindAndRain said:


> In this context it seems to be someone whose experiences are considered less valid on this thread on the basis of their sexual orientation and gender being too majority or mainstream



Well, the context is a thread asking _*female*_ travelers for their opinions, so yeah. Cis male opinions aren't really being sought after here . Nothing to do with sexual orientation however. Not trying to be a jerk, just thought I caught some indignant overtones here. Maybe a misinterpretation.



Lost in transit said:


> So cis mean a male? I don't get it....





Lost in transit said:


> Talking to three women one my mom. No one knows what cis male is. So sis male means being a male?





Lost in transit said:


> What is a cis male?



As Benton said, cis (cisgender) means one who's biological sex matches their gender identity. A cis male was born a male, whereas a trans male would have been born as female.


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## XlilyX (Jun 25, 2017)

Alright here's some of my input. I'm a trans female, not really passable, so posting my experiences on this thread comes with a smidge of hesitation; I've only traveled through Cali and Oregon, so feel free to take this with a grain of salt. I've only ever traveled with a companion once (about 500 out of roughly 4,500 miles hitched). Road dog was male. Really the only perceivable differences were that it was considerably slower catching rides, and I didn't get approached by any creepy guys I had to get rid of. Didn't have to end any rides prematurely. I assume it was power in numbers, not the presence of a male which made it less sketchy. Maybe it's just coincidence.


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## Lost in transit (Jun 25, 2017)

No offense intended I just was not aware of the term.


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## XlilyX (Jun 25, 2017)

Lost in transit said:


> No offense intended I just was not aware of the term.


no offense taken, sorry if it seemed so.


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## marmar (Jun 26, 2017)

lily the kid said:


> . I'm a trans female, not really passable,


Well the passibility kinda makes all the difference with women' experiences.
If you are perceived as a male, you are treated differently from as if you were read as a female.
That's why some trans women I know never truly come out, it's just easier not to. Especially in a travellers culture, jails etc. Kinda off topic, but felt like adding this


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## landpirate (Jun 27, 2017)

I rubber tramp so I appreciate that in itself that is safer than hitch hiking for example and I'm also in the UK so perhaps that's safer than the USA (I dunno?). Nowadays I travel 99% of the time Just me and my dog. I pick up hitchhikers and occasionally friends come along for the ride. 

I have felt so much safer on my own than I ever did traveling with male friends/ ex boyfriends. They just got me into situations that were really sketchy and because I stupidly assumed safety in numbers I went head on into it all even though I would never consider doing these thing or going to these places as a lone female because I know the outcome is going to be awful. I just find that men all too often act overly confident and think they can handle every situation whereas I think sometimes women are more aware of people's body language and are more careful which situations they put themselves in. I guess men in my experience seem to take more risks.

I think you also have to remember that the risk of abuse is also very real in terms of it coming from the male person you are traveling with.

For example since travelling solo I HAVEN'T been strangled, punched in the face, robbed, threatened with a knife, arrested, spat at or coerced into criminal activity (all things that happened to me whilst in the "safe" company of men!) I lead a peaceful life now and I worry a lot less about my safety. Maybe that has partly come with age too (I'm 35!)

I get more respect for travelling alone in fact and it's something a lot of my female friends are also doing which is really great. I think if you're female or identify so, then I personally think you'd be much better off travelling with another female or a gang of them if you're not ready for solo travelling. 

In my experience of life squatting, sleeping rough and rubber tramping I've definitely been able to rely on the support of the women around me and I'd trust my life with them.

These are just my experiences and opinions. Not all people of the same gender behave the same way. There are good people in all walks of life.


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## marmar (Jun 29, 2017)

landpirate said:


> I rubber tramp so I appreciate that in itself that is safer than hitch hiking for example and I'm also in the UK so perhaps that's safer than the USA (I dunno?). Nowadays I travel 99% of the time Just me and my dog. I pick up hitchhikers and occasionally friends come along for the ride.
> 
> I have felt so much safer on my own than I ever did traveling with male friends/ ex boyfriends. They just got me into situations that were really sketchy and because I stupidly assumed safety in numbers I went head on into it all even though I would never consider doing these thing or going to these places as a lone female because I know the outcome is going to be awful. I just find that men all too often act overly confident and think they can handle every situation whereas I think sometimes women are more aware of people's body language and are more careful which situations they put themselves in. I guess men in my experience seem to take more risks.
> 
> ...


So agree with all of this! My experiences exactly put into words, thank you!
I'm 31 and I guess confidence comes with age and experiences here. I definitely went thru all that exact bulshit with males, all I'm my 20s. Now that crap just doesn't pass, not in my van anyway


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## Deleted member 14481 (May 1, 2018)

Being focused on being "female bodied" is a large part of the problem when we discuss violence in any community. It's very much erasing the trans experience, which can also be violent and deadly.


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## marmar (May 1, 2018)

Inuyoujo said:


> Being focused on being "female bodied" is a large part of the problem when we discuss violence in any community. It's very much erasing the trans experience, which can also be violent and deadly.


 no one is erasing trans experience. feel free to start a thread on trans travellers specific experience if thats something you want to talk about


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## Deleted member 14481 (May 2, 2018)

marmar said:


> no one is erasing trans experience. feel free to start a thread on trans travellers specific experience if thats something you want to talk about



The thread was started by a man, and there are a lot of men posting in here assuming what some of the "female bodied experience" is. And, there's a reply about a cis man disrespecting a trans women in the thread, but I need to start my own thread about the trans experience when its been depicted in a negative way in this thread.

I know that XlilyX already said a piece on "cis males and trans men being born with female bodies", but there's really hurtful to a lot of transmen, that had any dysphoria. They don't identity with that body is what's important, as to why they're trans. And saying "female bodied" is also an exclusionary term to transwomen with the parts we have labeled "female". I acknowledge that everyone handles their identity individually, but more than enough people use this "basic language" to be able to exclude trans and non-binary people in different ways.

To bring it back to the topic:

The "female bodied experience" works in more variety than being "female bodied" because there's more to it than the body. It's everything going on around the body and in the mind and emotions. And, it's also about what your body looks like and how other view or interprete it. I find that to be the biggest issue. If someone has decided they are going to try to do something for or against you it has why more to do with how they preserve you than just the template "female bodied" idea.

But something I can point out, it that there can be a great fluctuation is services offered to people based on men, women, and children from area to area. And, some of these services deny transpeople, for whatever body they have. The the unique situation of the "female bodied" idea being applied to transmen is why rape and assault are such consequences for them in certain spaces. The traveling and homeless communities are especially dangerous because people are harder to catch and keep track of - having no id, being undocumented, no previous record, traveling around a lot, and a long list of other good reasons.

Not that it isn't the same situation that will all agree to acknowledging, but there are a lot of cis women and transpeople that don't go into a lot of spaces because they are afraid of how they'll be treated by the cis men. Hell, there are cis men that don't go into spaces because of how toxic the other cis men are!

As a non-binary person that doesn't care as much, I can walk into a space, let people miss-gender all they want. Get food and clothes, and leave. If someone tries to fuck with me I fuck with them back or ignore them. But, not everyone is like that. The "female bodied experience" only has as much emphasis as toxic masculinity and the patriarchy allows it to.


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## Smudge (May 8, 2018)

I'm a woman travelling alone and honestly I felt more unsafe living on college at uni than I do now.


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## marmar (May 10, 2018)

Inuyoujo said:


> The thread was started by a man, and there are a lot of men posting in here assuming what some of the "female bodied experience" is. And, there's a reply about a cis man disrespecting a trans women in the thread, but I need to start my own thread about the trans experience when its been depicted in a negative way in this thread.
> 
> I know that XlilyX already said a piece on "cis males and trans men being born with female bodies", but there's really hurtful to a lot of transmen, that had any dysphoria. They don't identity with that body is what's important, as to why they're trans. And saying "female bodied" is also an exclusionary term to transwomen with the parts we have labeled "female". I acknowledge that everyone handles their identity individually, but more than enough people use this "basic language" to be able to exclude trans and non-binary people in different ways.
> 
> ...


I agree with everything you said, I just don't see why you get offended about trans experience being put into a separate category or thread in here. While female experience on the road is harder and contains more danger of being preyed on by males, trans experience could be similar but also different and contain other sort of danger. For example not so much of being a prey but a victim of hate violence, that could have different consequences. Idk. I just feel like if you are feeling like your voice is being unrepresented in this thread, it's not a big deal to start your own. It's pretty egalitarian platform for travellers of any identity.


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## marmar (May 10, 2018)

Inuyoujo said:


> The thread was started by a man, and there are a lot of men posting in here assuming what some of the "female bodied experience" is. And, there's a reply about a cis man disrespecting a trans women in the thread, but I need to start my own thread about the trans experience when its been depicted in a negative way in this thread.



Yea it is weird that this thread was started by a dude, not a woman. And too many dudes jumped in to talk "female experince" that no-one asked them about. Patriarchy and toxic masculinity, men dominating spaces is quite real. That's why I'm saying, marginalized groups should create their own spaces, with no men's opinions welcomed. Safer spaces


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## croc (May 15, 2018)

Now that I have a few months in as a "female bodied" traveler, I'll chime in on this thread (which I was beyond stoked to find last year when I joined!)
I do not feel like I need male presence to be safe at all. While I understand that I'm assumed to be a woman from the way that I look and it could put me in a more vulnerable spot, I'd rather do that than hang with dude travelers who insist that I'm safer with them and shouldn't travel alone. Basically, I'd rather possibly be at a higher risk of danger than be told how I'm being protected when my common sense has seemed more useful than the ~fearless man~ next to me.
Having other "female" company, whether it be based on biology or identity, is my ideal for a road dog if I had to have one. Reiterating what someone said earlier, being a little more of a target makes you have to use your brain and gut more than those who aren't.


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## croc (May 15, 2018)

I'd also like to chime in on the trans inclusion topic that's been going on. 
I'm a trans dude and for years would be pissed if someone called me female in any way because I don't identify as a female. I kinda just decided one day that I can spend the rest of my life being upset when I'm misgendered, or grouped with the term "female", or I can make myself get past that for my own mental well being. I can get upset at the world til I'm blue in the face or accept that what they're saying isn't a reflection of me and I can entirely ignore it if I want.
But not all people work the same and of course I can still see why some afab (assigned female at birth) trans people would be upset by this. My advice to them is try to block that out for their own peace of mind, but just because it worked for me doesn't mean it's everyone's truth.
This post seems to specifically be geared toward people who are usually perceived as women, maybe that would be a good way to put it? 
I I wanna ask the trans folk on here what terms everyone thinks would be best to use when avoiding using male or female bodied, but that might be off topic so I'll start another thread about it.


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## livefastdiekt (May 15, 2018)

Thank you so fucking much for this! I'm a gal just starting out and I've been real nervous but dude everything you've said has been such a quiet voice in the back of my brain, thanks to you its a lot louder now. You're right and I know it. I can do this!!! Also, my road dog was supposed to fucking help me. Teach me. I was supposed to be able to depend on him. But nah he decided to confess his love to me after a week and be all pissy cuz I didn't show him interest. Bullshit dude.


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## Shwillam (May 18, 2018)

yea you fucking can, see you up the road or down the line


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## otch0z (Nov 25, 2018)

(disclaimer : I'm taking shortcuts writing "female" instead of non-transphobic terms. English is not my first language so just writing this level of concept is complicated to me)

So I just found this thread using the search thingy, read it, and what I'll add might not be major but I'm female and it kinda lacks in this thread so :

I don't think traveling with a dude makes you safer, but I do fear hitching alone. I used to (for non-extended periods of time, and in rather safe conditions) but now I'd much rather travel with another female or some of my male friends. I don't feel like I'm making a gender difference though, I just prefer not to hitch alone. I just assume safety is in number but this thread had me think twice about that.

I kinda agree with what have been said about traveling with a cis man tho. I think it can be more dangerous because of the way they act with other cis men and, of course, with us females. 

I've been hitching with a female friend and then a male friend (who's gay, and really aware of gender, feminism and stuff so his behaviour is not so cis and annoying) and I didn't feel safer traveling with a male rather than a female.
I actually never feared for my safety hitching, apart from the danger of driving in general. My female friend and myself had a bad experience, though. But fear wasn't what I felt.

As for traveling at all, well I find nice having someone to remember adventures with, but it's not really related to safety.

Concerning trans people, I think it's another discussion which is as important as this one, but which depends on other types of dangers, as well as the ones that female-bodied persons experience.

Concerning cis men frustrated to be generalized, please have the decency to stay silent ? If you're really angry about it, start another thread instead of changing the thread's subject ? And if you don't know a term, maybe google it first ?


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## benton (Nov 25, 2018)

marmar said:


> Yea it is weird that this thread was started by a dude, not a woman. And too many dudes jumped in to talk "female experince" that no-one asked them about. Patriarchy and toxic masculinity, men dominating spaces is quite real. That's why I'm saying, marginalized groups should create their own spaces, with no men's opinions welcomed. Safer spaces


This is not such a space and the ideas you are posting are comprised largely of opinions as opposed to objective facts.

You can create whatever space you would like and there is little chance of me entering it uninvited; however, to suggest that my ability to occupy the public space and express myself solely based on my gender is simply sexist and bigoted.

If I accept the premise of men dominating spaces (and I would not accept this idea without a debate as it is an incomplete idea that presumes all men equally capable of and willing to dominate spaces), surely the solution to the problem of male domination of spaces. cannot be female domination of spaces.

Anyone can tell anyone to shut up, and anyone can refuse to shut up. To quote one of my favorite songs "fuck you I won't do what you tell me."

Most of my favorite people of all genders and creeds practice that philosophy in their lives.

You might get me to agree to do what you want me to do, but it only after convincing me with a logically sound argument (point of view) that has withstood the scrutiny of being picked apart at all its weak points.

Simply stating an opinion as fact and then expecting me or anyone else to fall in line with your thinking is asinine in my opinion.

And I mean every word of this post and I stand behind it as a human being. I believe that these ideas are clear and logically constructed and they are my exact thoughts and I would not expect to backtrack from them in any way.

Anybody don't like it? Not my problem...

I did not come to the Earth to be told what I can and can't say and where I can and can't go based on whats between my legs.


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## roughdraft (Mar 7, 2019)

something I have noticed in Patagonia (and this has been brought up to me by other folks too, primarily native Chileans) is that you will see a fair amount of Italian, Dutch, German, Greek, French, Australian, Canadian, etc female bodied individuals traveling by themselves - but you will almost never see a Chilena/Latinx female bodied individual traveling without a male bodied individual. Granted that noone witnesses everyone - it is a general observation. Anyway I find it kind of sad.


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## Oddy (Mar 7, 2019)

I would like to point out that a serious problem I've come across is cis male folks saying all the right things and talking about female empowerment, sexism, feminism etc because that's what they know people want to hear, but not actually checking their own behaviour. The OP of this thread being a prime example (see the thread about him in the shady and untrustworthy people section). I'm not trying to generalise, but in a thread about travelling solo as a female, being discussed by mostly (from what I can tell) males, I would just like to remind people that talking about the female experience and encouraging female bodied travellers is great, but so is checking yourself and those around you. 

As for advice to female bodied travellers, do what you want and judge people by their actions, not their words. Stay safe.


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