A female traveling alone? The horror!
I traveled out of the country by myself at the age of eighteen, and have big plans to travel many other places, maybe with other people probably by myself. I can’t tell you how many times I have told people my plans and have received reactions of horror.
“I would never let my daughter travel by herself! What does your mother think?”
“You have a boyfriend don’t you? Why can’t he go with you? So you’re safer.”
“Thailand? Oh my God! You’ll be mugged or raped!”
Unbeknownst to many of them that I have traveled alone, granted it was to Europe (Germany, France and Switzerland). And I traveled to well known, relatively safe areas for someone who was born and raised in Los Angeles. But still, I did it all alone and my mom and boyfriend were thrilled for me. The issue I really have with all this, is that it really isn’t about women traveling alone, in my opinion. It’s a scapegoat to prevent many of us from living out our dreams because the reality of it is, these terrible things happen everywhere. They happen in foreign places and our own neighborhoods.
Like I said, I grew up in some not so great areas of Los Angeles. I’ve seen drive bys, robberies, fighting, all kinds of crazy stuff. I’ve heard of horrible things happening to my friends and family, women walking to their cars after work, etc. I have also heard of things happening in foreign countries, like the story of Sarai Sierra. “She traveled alone to Germany and Turkey to pursue her photography hobby. She had an instagram account that had gained a lot of followers from her shots around New York City. She traveled alone at the last minute when a friend dropped out of the trip. She never made her flight home and a search was conducted. They found her two weeks after she had gone missing and it was determined her death was caused by a blow to the head.”
These kinds of things happen all the time but the media picks up certain ones, puts their spin on it, to only further the stereotypes about women traveling alone and pray on our fears. What happened to her is awful, who knows what really happened, but we can’t let these things stop us from living out our dreams. We need to address the problem at the source. These women are prayed on and targeted because of the prevalence of rape culture in every country in the world. Because the deeply rooted belief in many people that women are weaker. If we changed the way we thought about and treated women across the board, I feel we would see a drastic decline in these horrible incidents in every country.
When I made all of my voyages, I did months of research before hand. Common tourist pick pocket locations, how you can get conned out of money on the street, ways to protect myself, when to travel to certain places, etc. I researched where to stay, things to bring, all different ways that I could be alone and still be safe. I had an absolute blast and had no incidents, and I know I can continue to make this happen. Luckily with the internet, there is a large community of women travelers that you can communicate with and bounce ideas off of and you can began your journey (or journeys) armed with very useful knowledge. This is what I did and I feel it is the best protection against anything that can harm you, knowledge. I will no longer be swayed by the, “women traveler? Oh, the horror!” Because I know that I can be the change and hopefully continue to educate people and become more educated myself, on the ways to make the world a safer place. No more victim blaming, let’s address the problem at the source and make a change.