Reading Response

According to Solnit in “Walking after midnight,” how has gender affected the ability to walk in the city? How has gender affected the experience of walking in the city?

Gender has affected the ability to walk in the city by making it much more position wise. Your gender affects how scared and feared you are now, for some girls they are not allowed to be seen walking out alone because of how some people see them as defenseless. Coming from a personal experience, I have a little sister who is 14, but is not allowed to go out alone and must be with a friend or an adult. However, when I was 14 I was allowed to wander off wherever I wanted to go. This is how gender affects the ability to walk. Some women are grown up and can handle themselves, however most people see young girls defenseless compared to young boys. As to younger boys, some are left vulnerable and easy to attack because of this. It changes a lot of people’s perspective on how walking in the city is used. And not only that, another thing is cat calling women. A lot of older guys are seen as cat callers and sometimes can be horrifying by forcing the women to go out with them without knowing who they are. (193)