Tonight I was walking home from the train station when I realized something pretty grim. Now it's relevant to know that I usually either ride my bike home from the station or get a ride from my sister, because by the time the metra rolls in from Chicago dumping me off work, it's dark out and even though I stay close to the station it's still an eight minute or so walk in the dark on mostly unlit streets.
So as I was walking home, battling that creeping sensation every woman knows when she's alone in the dark no matter how "safe" the neighborhood- I was going through the list of reasons why I was highly unlikely to be jumped, raped, and left for dead in the middle of my safe suburban neighborhood. I even recalled all the times I'd biked home and left my bike parked right beside the garage all night without a care in the world. As if to say, "see Meg, you felt safe enough then". That's when it hit me. I'm somehow less afraid that a stranger will spot my bike unchained beside my garage and decide to steal my property, than I am that a stranger will spot me alone in the dark and accost my body.
I wholly expect someone to treat unattended property with more respect than they might if they spotted an unattended female.