'GENDERED EXCLUSIONS': WOMEN'S FEAR OF VIOLENCE AND CHANGING RELATIONS TO SPACE

'Gendered Exclusions': Women's Fear of Violence and Changing Relations to SpaceAuthor(s): Hille KoskelaSource: Geografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, Vol. 81, No. 2 (1999), pp. 111-124Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Swedish Society for Anthropology and GeographyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/491020 .Accessed: 08/12/2014 10:38

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'GENDERED EXCLUSIONS': WOMEN'S FEAR OF VIOLENCE AND CHANGING RELATIONS TO SPACE

by Hille Koskela

Koskela, Hille, 1999: 'Gendered Exclusions': women's fear of violence and changing relations to space. Geogr. Ann., 81 B (2): 111-124.

ABSTRACT: This paper examines how women's fear of violence is realised as spatial exclusions. Quantitative surveys on fear are used to show the number of women who are afraid, and the nature of the most frightening places. However, it is argued that quantitative surveys are of limited value in approaching the mental and social processes behind fear and in understanding the fear-related production of space. Qualitative research methods are used to explain the matter in more depth. It may be argued that fear is a consequence of women's unequal status, but it also contributes to perpetuating gendered inequalities. The paper reveals multiple experiences that change women's relations to space. Experiences and attempts at violence, and incidents of sexual harassment produce a space from which women are excluded on account of their gender. Social and emotional aspects, such as increased feelings of vulnerability, lack of social support, and a feeling of not having control over what is happening to oneself, have spatial consequences. These feelings often increase along with ageing, injur- ing, bereavement or moving to another place, as well as pregnancy and motherhood. I argue that the spatial exclusions in women's lives are a reflection of gendered power relations. Women's subjective feelings contribute to the intersubjective power-related process of producing space. Urban space is produced by gender relations, and reproduced in those everyday practices where women do not-or dare not-have a choice over their own spatial behaviour.

Key words: fear of violence, gender, urban space, spatial exclusion, qualitative methods

Introduction In recent years women's safety in the city streets has been an issue of growing concern. The debate on violence and fear of violence has been going on within urban politics as well as within such aca- demic disciplines as sociology, criminology and geography. My aim in this paper is to examine these matters from a spatial perspective. Fear leads women to take precautions which are often spatial, such as avoiding certain parts of the city or not going out after dark. However, the spatiality of fear does not mean a simple identification and description of the most frightening places and areas, but rather a complex analysis of gendered spatiality. My purpose is to examine how spatial constraints are intertwined

with gendered power relations. The focus is not merely on an individual's use of space but rather on the intersubjective and gender-related production of urban space. In Anglo-American countries the geography of women 's fear has been widely studied (e.g. Smith, 1987; Valentine, 1989; Gardner, 1994; Pain, 1994) but in Scandinavian countries this issue has been raised only recently (Auren, 1996; Koskela, 1996; Listerborn, 1996). National crime surveys on safety and fear have shown that fear is also a social problem in Scandinavia: because of fear, women's lives are more restricted than men's (Leva i Norden, 1990; Tiby, 1991; Ka- risto and Tuominen, 1993). Based on qualitative research done in Finland my aim is to complement previous surveys and to study the geography of women's fear in Scandinavian society in greater detail. The quantitative facts given by crime surveys are used as background information.

Female victimization is of especial interest since gender is one of the most crucial factors affecting fear of violence and geographical mobility in urban areas (e.g. Warr, 1985; Smith, 1987; Pain, 1991). Because of fear, women are restricting their access to and activity within public space. Collectively, women constitute an example par excellence of the unequal victim because they are socially and physically vulnerable to victimization (Painter, 1992). Thus, I single out women, not because they are ex- clusively the victims of violence in public space, but because they are especially vulnerable. Further, women's fear is crucially different from men's fear: it differs in its extent, its nature as well as its effects on women's lives (Pain, 1991). One reason for this is that women perceive a unique and serious threat barely felt by men-sexual violence (Valentine, 1992). Violent attacks and sexual harassment remind women every day that they are not meant to be in certain spaces (Rose, 1993). When women adopt strategies to cope with fear they commonly distance themselves-in space and time-from po- tential attackers (Valentine, 1992). Thus public space can be considered as one territory to which

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men hold greater rights than women: a territory from which women are often excluded by harassment and fear of male violence (Gardner, 1994).1

The social and spatial domains intertwined It is not an inborn quality of women to be fearful. Many women are confident and well able to cope with their environments and to take possession of space. Women often show an ability to respond sen- sibly when facing a threat. If women have the courage to go out, they make space more easily available for other women by their presence. However, the issue of female courage and boldness is discussed in greater detail elsewhere (see Koskela, 1997) and lies beyond the scope of this paper. The notion of women being sometimes able to resist fear does not deny that in many women's lives fear plays an important role. For some, it means fleeting moments of uneasiness, for others, constant and serious re- strictions that profoundly shape their everyday lives. From the viewpoint of a geographer the relations and events that affect women's lives begin to be of especial interest at that point where women's social experiences turn out to have spatial consequences. As I will show, these points are multiple.

It must be made clear what is meant by spatial here. When focusing on individual decisions concerning mobility, women's fear of violence can easily be approached as a behavioural problem. No matter how much time has elapsed since the 'gold- en age' of behavioural geography, there is still a temptation to treat women's habits of moving about as an individual behavioural matter. However, behavioural geography is based on naive assumptions about individuals and society-that human spatial behaviour is 'determined by preference only' (Rushton, 1969, in Tivers, 1984, p. 84). Such sim- plistic arguments are far from the social reality of gender, violence and fear.

As Rachel Pain has argued, 'a mistaken assump- tion common to more traditional geographical approach is that the physical areas women fear are more important than the symbolic connotations of space' (1994, p. 417). Focusing solely on the areal differences of fear levels leads one to treat space as a surface. However, as has been argued for a long time within the discourses of critical social and cultural geography, space is not merely a surface where social practices take place (e.g. Harvey, 1973; Gregory and Urry, 1985; Lefebvre, 1991; Massey, 1994). Rather, space is produced in social practices; it is a social category in itself. Space is si-

multaneously the medium and the outcome of social practices (Soja, 1985). The social and the spatial domains are deeply intertwined.

In many discourses the awareness of space being produced in social practices has been understood in relation to political or macro-economic social practices. Space has been seen, for example, as an outcome of the capitalist mode of production (Harvey, 1973). However, space can be seen as constructed out of the multiplicity of social relations across all spatial scales, for example, from daily working practices of individuals to international division of labour (Massey, 1994; Simonsen, 1996). It is produced not only in political and economic processes but in the practices and power relations of everyday- lifeincluding gender relations. Furthermore-as is still rarely discussed-feelings and emotions also contribute in the process of producing space.

In order to understand the problem of women's spatial exclusion, the concept of space as a social construct is essential. This involves an interpreta- tion of spatiality that differs from the biased inter- pretations of traditional geographical approaches. First, it acknowledges that spatial problems are not solely questions of mobility or distribution in physical space. Second, it makes it possible to understand that individual use of space is not based on in- dependent free choices but is instead a product of social power relations.

This must be taken seriously in research concerning fear. Space and social characteristics are mutually modifying, interacting dimensions that deeply affect the nature and shape of women's fear (Painter, 1992). Fear of crime is constantly modifying women's spatial realities. On the one hand, it is a matter of personal spatial relations, constraints on an individual's use of space. Living a spatially restricted life because of fear constantly reminds women of their relatively powerless position (Pain, 1994). On the other hand, it is a question of production and reproduction of space. In relation to the everyday practices of individuals-which are shaped by gendered power relations-space is not just a medium for interaction but is also produced by this interaction.

Women's decisions concerning the routes they choose and places they go to are modified by the threat of violence. In identifying safe routes and dangerous areas, women formulate different spaces: the city-especially the night city-is divided into 'masculine' areas, with barely any women around, and presumably safer areas which fearful women find more 'feminine'. Furthermore, wom-

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en's decisions not to go out in the street are producing a different type of urban space than their decisions to go out. If women stay indoors for fear of violent attack, their oppressors gain more control of public space (cf. Smith, 1986; Pain, 1991). By restricting their mobility because of fear, women un- wittingly reproduce masculine domination over space. With violence-and with a threat of violence-the city streets are kept as male-dominated, heterosexual spaces (Rose, 1993). The gendered exclusions, which produce space as a masculine arena, mean-in women's daily lives-that many women spend their lives under "a virtual curfew" (Kinsey, 1984, in Pain, 1997a, p. 234; see also Smith, 1987).

Fear of violence according to crime surveys This article goes on to discuss further the number of women in different places who are affected by this 'curfew' imposed by the threat of violence. In Britain as well as in the USA crime surveys have been 'mapping' fear for a long time2. My purpose is not to provide a detailed analysis of these surveys but rather to give some examples with which the Scandinavian fear figures can be compared. For example, in London in 1984 56% of women felt 'very unsafe' or 'not very safe' walking alone at night, and 22% never travelled after dark (Atkins, 1989, in Trench et al., 1992)3. According to the Edin- burgh Crime Survey, 56% of the older women living in the centre of Edinburgh said they 'never go out after dark' because of fear (Pain, 1994, p. 233). In a survey conducted throughout Great Britain, nearly two thirds (64%) of the women respondents feared going out at night (Atkins, 1989, in Trench et al., 1992). In the USA according to the National Crime Survey conducted in 1975, 61% of women in the twenty-six largest US cities responded they feel 'very unsafe' or 'somewhat unsafe' when alone at night in their neighbourhoods (Gordon and Riger, 1989, p. 9). Of the women aged 65 and over, half (49.7%) felt 'very unsafe' (Gordon and Riger, 1989, p. 10). To summarize, fear of violence is not a problem of a small, restricted group of women: according to the studies presented here most women in the Anglo-American countries are at least somewhat afraid and quite many spatially restrict their lives because of fear.

In Finland, a survey completed in 1994 showed that 44% of women were afraid of walking on Fri- day or Saturday nights in the centre of the city they lived in; 32% of them 'felt unsafe' and 12% 'did not

dare to go to the centre alone' (Korander, 1994, pp. 15-16). 'The Safety of Finns' studies conducted in 1988 and 1993 show that fear of this sort has increased. In 1988, 43% and in 1993, 54% of women respondents answered they were 'worried about being a victim of violence in the evenings outside home'. In 1988, 32% and in 1993, 37% of those said they were 'afraid' or 'restricted their mobility' (Niemi, 1994, pp. 14).4 In Sweden the Central Sta- tistical Office has conducted a survey on living conditions. The question concerning safety was formu- lated in the following way: 'If you go out late in the evening in the area where you live, would you say you feel safe or unsafe, or do you mostly avoid going out late in the evening?'5. According to this survey, in the Stockholm area 30% of women said they feel unsafe and as many as 33% said they avoid going out late in the evening. (Tiby, 1991).

Within cities, not all places and areas are equally frightening. According to Gill Valentine's (1989) qualitative research in Reading, UK, the places where women felt most insecure were of two types. First, women were afraid of large open spaces which are frequently deserted, such as parks and woodland. Second, commonly feared places were closed spaces with limited exits, such as subways, alleyways and multi-storey car parks. In the USA-according to the survey mentioned above- women considered certain streets or alleys to be the most dangerous places (39%) and parks to be the next most dangerous (20%) (Gordon and Riger, 1989).

In Helsinki, according to the 1993 Safety of Finns survey, the picture of urban fear is quite similar. This survey included both women and men. One-third of all respondents, most of them women, said there are certain places in their daily environment which they find unpleasant or frightening, especially in the evenings. Eighty per cent of these answers are included in the following categories: forests, parks, recreation areas and paths (47%), stations and shopping centres (35%), and underpasses, tunnels, bridges and cellars (18%) (Koskela and Tuominen, 1995). There were variations according to gender: women usually mentioned empty and isolated places, such as forests and underpasses, whereas men usually mentioned socially active places, such as stations. Women indicated they did not feel safe out of the visual range of others. A possible explanation for this is that it is more likely for women than for men to be able to count on other people's help if they are attacked. (Koskela and Tuominen, 1995).

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In Helsinki, more broadly defined areas that are perceived to be unsafe are the city centre and the surroundings of the main railway station. The centre is commonly perceived as dangerous: it is the place where most people go and where strangers encounter each other. Furthermore, it also has the clearest concentration of crime in Helsinki (Hels- ingin Sanomat, 1994). Other unsafe areas of the city are the eastern suburbs which have a reputation for being low-income residential areas, and the district known as Kallio, where street prostitution has recently become a common phenomenon (see Tani, 1996). The so-called 'red-light districts' are commonly perceived as 'immoral landscapes': high crime areas and feared places (Ashworth et al., 1988; see also Hubbard, 1997). This has recently been shown to be the case also in Scandinavian cities, for example, in Gothenburg (Listerborn, 1996, pp. 77-83) and Oslo (Auren, 1996, pp. 76-81). Al- though in Kallio crime related to prostitution has not-at least not yet-become a problem, incidents of sexual harassment in the street have increased. This harassment, and the reputation of the area- created mainly by the media-has increased the feelings of uneasiness and fear especially among women.

The results of these surveys suggest that there are not very significant differences between Scan- dinavian women's fear and that of British or Amer- ican women. The number of women who express fear is in some cases smaller, but the types of places in which they experience fear are quite similar.

The significance of qualitative methods In Finland, quantitative surveys were previously the only available source of information on fear of violence (Seppinen, 1991; Karisto and Tuominen, 1993; Korander, 1994; Koskela and Tuominen, 1995; Heiskanen and Piispa, 1998). They show the number of women who are afraid and give an idea about what kinds of places are most frightening. I have taken the quantitative figures as background information, and used qualitative research to probe deeper into the questions on fear, gendered power and the production of space. Crime surveys, which give a general picture of fear, are less suitable when the aim is to approach the symbolic connotations of space. In quantitative surveys, the mental and social processes behind fear remain hidden. They grasp a different level of fear than qualitative research is aiming to reveal. Quantitative surveys are unable to understand or explain the fear-related

production and reproduction of gendered urban space. Therefore, more sensitive research methods are needed to explain the specific nature of women's fear more realistically than surveys are able to do. This is why I have chosen qualitative methods to obtain this information. The following parts are based on interviews and written stories collected in Finland in 1996.

This research is founded on an analysis of forty- three women's descriptions of their fear of violence. Eighteen take the form of in-depth interviews, and twenty-fife are written stories. The women interviewed were aged between 20 and 43 6 and the written stories came from women between 26 and 82 years of age. The written stories were collected by placing advertisements in mag- azines and asking people to write about how fear of violence in public space affect their lives7. The motive for collecting them was to receive personal ac- counts written by people who had experienced violence themselves and to analyse experiences of people who feel that fear is a particularly important issue in their lives. The women who wrote the written stories lived in different parts of Finland, in major cities as well as in rural areas. Their stories indicated that fear is mostly an urban phenomenon: almost all the women living in rural areas described fear experienced either in previous urban places of residence or when visiting urban environments.

The interviewed women lived in Helsinki. Four were interviewed alone and fourteen in small groups of two or three, with sessions lasting for between 1.5 and 2.5 hours. The interviews were tape- recorded with the permission of the participants, and later transcribed. The purpose of the group interviews was to help women, through discussion, to remember minor violent or threatening experiences. The interviews were not formal or strictly struc- tured; rather the aim was to encourage informal discussion, covering all the research themes at some stage. Some of the women were outgoing, spending time in the city centre at night almost every week- end, whereas others had small children and lived much more private and spatially restricted lives. Thus their relationships to urban space varied widely.

In the interview sessions women described what they are afraid of and when, what kinds of situations are particularly frightening and why. The differences between day and night-changes in routes used and 'no-go areas' and images of other people-were discussed. Most discussions about fear related to walking or using public transport. Wom-




en reflected on memories of violent experiences, threats of violence, as well as survival stories. Women also described how they interpret some situations or people as potentially dangerous, and evaluated how they think these images are formed. In addition, urban space, such as specific frightening areas, places and built forms, were discussed, as well as the more social dimensions of space, such as sexual harassment and street prostitution. Ses- sions included themes on planning: poorly built places in women's daily environments were discussed, and their opinions on planning as a means of making the city less frightening were solicited.

The written stories also included several descriptions of frightening areas, structures and social situations. The crucial feature, however, was that they included multiple narrations of various experiences which had changed women's relations to their environments. Many of these were descriptions of violence, but violence was by no means the only theme described as causing changes. The written stories included many direct and indirect descriptions of the spatial consequences of fear-in relation to both physical areas and to symbolic connotations of space. The focus of this paper is especially on the spatial consequences of fear.

Deeper into fear The present qualitative research suggests that the findings of quantitative surveys describe the general picture of women's fear quite well. Such closed spaces as underpasses, tunnels or dead-end streets are commonly mentioned to be the most frightening places. Multi-storey car parks are described to be unpleasant even during the day. Closed spaces with limited exits are widespread in urban settings. In their daily environments many women identify such places as ones they prefer to avoid whenever they can:

I think that underpasses are awful. ... If I go for a walk and have a possibility to choose to walk through an underpass or not, I usually choose not to use it.

Paula, 28 (in interview)8 I try to avoid the stairs ofPaciuksenkatu when it's dark and in the evenings. When I come home in the evenings, I try to take a tram instead of a bus. That way I can avoid the dark stairs.

Amanda, 27 (in writing)

The crime surveys show that deserted parks and forests are most commonly perceived as dangerous, especially among women. This is also clear in the present qualitative study. Empty areas are commonly perceived as more frightening than areas where there are other people around. Parks, urban woodland and recreation areas are places where there is the widest difference between daytime and night-time uses.

When it's dark, you maybe go for a shorter run, and you go just along the streets and not to the woods.

Birgitta, 43 (in interview) I've often wondered how my husband may go walking to the parks, even late in the evening, even in the autumn, and I've always asked him whether he's afraid, but he's not. I'd never go there.

Helena, 31 (in interview)

Daytime is rarely considered to be as frightening as night-time: temporality, as well as spatiality, is an important factor in women's fear (Pain, 1997a). Women feel that their freedom to use urban spaces varies over the day (McDowell, 1993). It must be noted, however, that night is a social construction. Particularly in the North it is not the amount of light that makes people cautious but the social nature of the night. In Helsinki, for example, summer nights are just slightly dusky, whereas during the winter darkness falls in the afternoon. Nevertheless, summer and winter nights are perceived to be equally dangerous9. What makes people cautious is 'the social night': what is going on, how people behave, and how women expect and have experienced men to behave.

It has been shown how fear is socially constructed. In daily life this happens through parental warnings, discussions among friends, warnings that are faced in discussions with anybody, and further, the cultural transmission reproduction of ide- ologies about women and the family (Valentine, 1992). An ideology of fear is supported by crime news items in the media which focus on sensation- al issues, exaggerate violence and tend to blame female victims for their destiny (Smith, 1985; Ka- risto and Tuominen, 1993). In addition, security education, crime-prevention advice and other warnings remind women that they should be pre- pared for something violent to happen (Gardner, 1990). Even research sometimes can have a part in

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this reproduction of fear by restricting itself nar- rowly to issues of safety and protection, and focusing on women only as victims who have no agency over their own lives (Wilson, 1991; Alcoff, 1996; see also Koskela, 1997).

My motive has been to discover those experiences and changes in life situations that have transformed women's attitudes towards their environment: 'the breakings' (Koskela, 1997). This is not to say that fear only emerges through major changes or specific happenings in women's lives, but rather I have used these occasions to trace out the origins of fear and its spatial effects. In the following sections I will discuss in detail the events and experiences that change women's spatial realities and cause women to be increasingly excluded from the public space.

Violence in public space It has been claimed that experiences of minor non- violent crime can reduce fear (Balvig, 1990). How- ever, in the light of current research, experiences of violence--especially sexual offences-terrify women and affect their lives in many ways and for a long time afterwards. In my research every woman who had experienced violence in the street was more afraid than before the attack. The consequences were often spatial. Fear produced 'a sense of space as something tricky, something to be ne- gotiated, a hazardous arena' (Rose, 1993, p. 146). For some women, anxiety increased mainly 'local- ly' as a fear of specific places that serve as a re- minder of the incident:

Fears remained an unpleasant part in my life ...

Closed narrow places became quite a threat. Forests, walkways and such places became a real problem. I had always loved walking in forests, it could be said the forest was my love. Now it has become like an enemy: frightening, threatening, which hides something that can cause me suffering.

Sylvi, 67 (in writing) For other women, fear after experienced violence comes as a more general change affecting social life as well as freedom of mobility: they become increasingly excluded from public space. Violence inflicted on a woman by one particular man becomes fear of violence from any man. This fear of any man in the street turns space into a highly masculine field:

I lost two years in studies and in everything else after that event [a violent rape attempt]. I couldn't concentrate on anything because I saw nightmares. Even in daytime I was star- tled every time when someone came from behind me, especially if it was a man.

Senni, 72 (in writing) Sometimes the spatial consequences of fear culmi- nate in more comprehensive decisions. The burden of a memory can be so strong that in order to re- cover, one needs to move to an entirely new environment that does not constantly remind one of experienced violence:

A couple of years later I had to move away from Helsinki to a little country town. There I gradually managed to get rid of my fears.

Senni, 72 (in writing) Whereas for some women 'a new turning point'- such as moving to a rural environment-can make recovery possible, others are bound to their everyday life without any possibility to change it. They are forced to adjust to the urban environment. This makes women increasingly conscious of their movements and of other people around them:

Now [after facing several violent situations during the course of my life] if I move in the night I change the side of the street often and don't let anyone walk in front of me or behind me.

Kerttu, 63 (in writing) Fearful women are constantly alert to what happens around them (see also Valentine, 1989). They scan the environment and choose their routes in relation to other people (mostly men) nearby. They interpret the slightest signs of danger to the best of their ability. They act like radars: their existence becomes 'bat-like'.

Attempted Violence and Sexual Harassment It may appear natural that the experience of violence engenders fear of violence, but it is important to note that attempted violence has the same effect. Even minor offences can cause fear of a more serious attack by reminding women of their vulnerability and the possibility of victimization (Stanko, 1990). Women experience a range of offensive behaviour which they may perceive as of-




fensive but which would not necessarily be considered criminal. Nevertheless, such experiences profoundly shape women's lives, creating a different social reality for them than for men (Painter, 1992). These everyday experiences which contribute to women's fears are often trivialized (Morrell, 1996). Sexual harassment is a glaring example of this.

Attempted violence, of course, varies consider- ably. Sometimes the offender does not even touch the victim, but the threat can still be very real. An attempted rape, some other form of violent attack, someone grabbing one's shoulders, or someone shouting in a threatening voice-all these can cause fear which takes the form of spatial constraints. Attempted violence can terrify women and affect their lives deeply, even though they were suc- cessful in avoiding physical violence. 'Hanna' was attacked when she returned to her apartment one night. The offender never managed to touch her because she frightened him with a shout, but she was nevertheless terrified:

I was working at nights then. I was running a roulette wheel, and it [walking home] was really distressing. I started to use a taxi every night and never walked at night any more. And I even told the driver to wait until I was safely inside the gate.

Hanna, 33 (in interview) The incidents of sexual harassment in public space serve to.remind women of sexual danger. Sexual harassment is quite common and it happens in limited-access spaces such as at one's workplace or in restaurants as well as in publicly accessible spaces such as city streets (Wise and Stanley, 1987; Gard- ner, 1995). There is an extensive amount of research showing that harassment is linked to women's fear of violence (e.g. McNeill, 1987; Gardner, 1990; Pain, 1991; Auren, 1996). Sexual harassment 'evokes fear of more severe sexual attack through routinely creating a state of insecurity and unease amongst women' (Pain, 1991, p. 421). Women find harassment offensive, upsetting and frightening:

This happens quite often to me... Ifeel like, oh no, this is so unpleasant. Like for example into a bus comes a man, in his fifties, very drunk, sits besides me and starts to touch my hair and everything. I think it's really offensive.

Susanna, 20 (in interview)

One night I was in a tram... and there was a big black man who was staring intently at me all the way, and got off the tram at the same stop, and I was terrified... I thought that if no one were walking the way I was going I would have walked somewhere else.

Paula, 28 (in interview) Women's responses to harassment in public space vary from silence and averting their eyes to open anger and resistance (Aapola and Kangas, 1994). It is impossible to predict which reaction would be best suited to help women to escape or resolve a given situation.

But it is very difficult to decide, when someone comes to wag one's tongue, whether to argue back or leave. It depends on the fact that someone might get angry when you talk back and someone else if you don't say anything.

Riikka, 28 (in interview)

Flashing can be considered to be a serious form of sexual harassment. Flashing, as well as other forms of harassment, reminds women of the threat of sexual violence. Sandra McNeill (1987) has catego- rized women's responses to flashing in terms of lo- calized effects, such as avoiding certain places or activities, and general effects, such as fear of open spaces or going out after dark. According to Mc- Neill, women who meet a flasher have various re- actions-fear, shock, disgust, anger, humiliation or giggling---often experienced simultaneously or in succession. Clearly, at least for some women, seeing flashers is frightening.

In the central parks [of Oulu] I've seen a record amount of flashers. Sometimes even in the street. They are not supposed to be dangerous. I think they are frightening and unnatu- ral. I'll never get used to seeing them.

Inkeri, 39 (in writing) Even though I wouldn't be afraid of someone attacking me I wouldn't take the risk of meet- ing a flasher because I think they are so terri- bly insulting and threatening. Something that completely upsets me and makes me angry, and somehow Ijust find it disgusting.

Hanna, 33 (in interview) The risk of being confronted by a flasher causes some women to significantly restrict or adjust their

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movements. Women prefer to avoid certain environments rather than 'take the risk' of facing an upsetting and frightening situation (see also Burgess, 1998). This is how the events of flashing produce masculine space. The same process applies to other forms of sexual harassment. Just as in incidents of violence, the uncomfortably and insulting events of harassment produce a space from which women are excluded on account of their gender.

Domestic violence Human geography has conventionally been concerned only with public activities. Geography has taken for granted the distinction between the public and the private, and, implicitly, the gendered associations of these spheres (McDowell, 1993; see also Duncan, 1996). However, it is clear that in women's lives violence and threat of violence is not limited to the public sphere: women are vulnerable to men's violence in the domestic sphere as well (e.g. Hanmer and Saunders, 1984; Gordon and Riger, 1989; Valentine, 1992; Rose, 1993). The majority of the worst crimes of violence are committed within the confines of home and thus those whom, in statistical terms, women have reason to fear most are those who are closest to them (Persson, 1981, in Tiby, 1990). For example, a recent victimization survey in Finland show that 70% of threat and violence and 85% of violence which caused injury was committed by an ac- quaintance (Heiskanen and Aromaa, 1998). In Sweden, the corresponding figure considering as- saults has been 80% (Tiby, 1991). Yet, research has shown that women perceive themselves to be in danger from strange men and in public space. (Valentine 1989; 1992). Perceptions of safety and danger are strongly linked to the ideological division between public and private space (Pain, 1997a).

Private violence can make one more fearful in public space. Domestic violence 'may affect the broader spatial experiences and choices of women affected by of threatened by it' (Pain, 1991, p. 417). Feelings of fear and threat cannot be expected to be spatially divided. In women's minds there is often no distinction between private and public dimensions of fear. Home is, in many ways, an important context for the exercise of power: in relation to power and exclusion, public and private space can be seen as 'reciprocally conditioned' (Sibley, 1995, p. 77).

'Linda', a victim of child abuse and domestic vi-

olence who now lives alone, is a clear example of how private experiences can shape life in public space:

I feel like an animal which has been chased into a cage... I am a mental prisoner of these experiences of mine. I don't dare to move anywhere after dark. And even in the summer when it's light, my mobility is restricted to places where there are people around. I cannot go into Nature, which I would like so much. I don't dare to. When I go for a walk I go to places where there are lots of other people.

Linda, 44 (in writing) Violence in private space is often invisible, and is sometimes trivialized or regarded as a non-political private matter: this violence reinforces subordina- tion and inequality in a hidden form (Duncan, 1996). This makes it especially important to over- come the distinction between the private and the public sphere. The threat of violence in private space can seriously shape women's experiences of space and place in general (Pain, 1997a). The feeling of not having control over what is happening to oneself comes as a consequence of any violent experience, not only street violence.

Increased feelings of isolation and vulnerability Fear is deeply embedded in a sense of vulnerability-both physical and social-and powerlessness (Smith, 1989; Tiby, 1991). Fear has been shown to be most acute where communities feel a sense of powerlessness and a lack of local democratic control (Smith, 1989). Those who suffer the most op- pression-who most often feel marginalized and helpless-are the ones who are most afraid. Flem- ming Balvig (1990) has argued that fear cannot be regarded only as a response to crimerates, but must also be understood in a wider context of life. For those who have few resources and who are at the periphery of society, basic existential insecurity is easily transformed into fear. Balvig suggests there is a connection between isolation and fear of crime: 'the greater the social isolation--the more one is left out in society and the weaker one's position in the social network-the greater the fear of crime' (Balvig, 1990, p. 93).

Ageing has often been connected to an increase in anxiety. Older people often experience social




isolation and loneliness as well as physical frailty and inability to resist attack (Smith, 1987). Al- though research on fear among older people has been criticized for reproducing a negative image of old age (Pain, 1994), many crime studies have found that older women are the ones who are most afraid (e.g. Smith, 1987; Gordon and Riger, 1989; in Finland, Korander, 1994; Keskinen, 1998; in Sweden, Vogel, 1991). Older women's fear is related to their feelings of vulnerability and helpless- ness. However, since the connections between age and fear have been studied elsewhere (see Warr, 1984; Smith, 1987; Pain, 1995, 1997b) my purpose is not to go any more deeply into that subject.

Of course, there are other factors besides age that contribute to feelings of vulnerability. Women with disabilities or from non-white ethnic backgrounds, in particular, may experience an increased number of threats (Morrell, 1996). Illness or disability can have a crucial affect on fear of violence. Pain's research (1994, 1997a, 1997b) indicates that violent crime can have a particular impact upon the spatial experiences of women with disabilities, com- pounding the constraints they may experience. Physical disability can make a woman feel a more likely victim of an attack and less able to resist an attack or to escape. The feeling of vulnerability can also follow the notion of being 'the other', an outsider in a society of able-bodied people (Chouinard and Grant, 1996). A violent experience brings a 'double' experience of vulnerability to a disabled person.

I was injured last year to both my lower limbs ...

I can move short distances with a walking- frame, but it is very unsteady ... When I was healthy, I was never afraid of anything ... Now that I'm injured, there is also the fear that somebody is going to attack me.

Eine, 49 (in writing) Disabled women are often concerned about being seen as 'easy targets' (Pain, 1994). The disability need not necessarily be severe: even weak-sighted- ness or a tendency to faint can create a sense of de- fencelessness and thus cause fear.

I went through brain tumour surgery and after that I began to have epileptic fits. And because of them I've been a victim of violence and mental cruelty ... I'm also visually impaired. That has become a burden, too.

Lyyli (in writing)

Furthermore, it is not only physical abilities that increase the sense of vulnerability but also mental conditions. Such problems as agoraphobia can change one's spatial experience radically (Gardner, 1994). In addition, mental illness can make one feel deprived, an outsider in society, and cause fear of intentional violence and bullying.

I have a mental illness and I'm afraid of moving out, especially in the dark seasons ... And I avoid the streets in the centre, where the youths meet. Youngsters have thrown stones at me ... Once they took dog's poop from the ground and swept it to my arms ... After that my fear was very strong for a long time.

Kirsi, 32 (in writing) Social isolation can also be seriously increased by a specific event-a death, for example. Bereave- ment means not only extreme sadness but a weakening of one's social networks. Further, it sometimes means changes in the terms of one's mobility. Increased feelings of vulnerability and lack of social support cause fear:

When my mother died and I was left alone in a big house, I started to fear that anyone could appear behind the door.

Vuokko, 63 (in writing) When after my husband died there was no car lift available I gave up ALL the evening outings.

Olga, 69 (in writing) Especially for older people who may be used to certain habits of moving around, bereavement can have spatial consequences. For example, if a couple has been married for a long time and has shared the same leisure activities and social contacts, it is clear that when one of them is left alone, it reveals a difference in perceived risks and vulnerability.

In addition, other big changes in women's lives, such as moving to another place, are followed by a weakening sense of control and confidence and an increase in fear. Often women feel safe in environments they know well and feel at home in. Moving to another place means not being familiar with the environment. An unknown area easily produces a sense of insecurity (Friberg, 1990). In addition, it means, especially when moving from a small town to a bigger city, a diminished ability to read the signs of danger. Inadequate social skills and im-

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paired social networks easily cause one's life to be restricted to private space. Social exclusion--a sense of being an outsider in a community--can become a spatial exclusion as well. This is not to deny that moving to a new environment can sometimes be used as a means of recovery, as was shown in the previous section on violent experiences. When analysing these occasions and situations that make women feel increasingly lonely and vulnerable, it becomes clear that fear is not connected merely to crimerates or to presumed risks of being a victim. It is a complex and multiple issue that may be influenced by many aspects of life.

Motherhood and Fear One change which causes women to experience spatial constraints is motherhood. From pregnancy it may follow that women change their spatial behaviour: they feel discomfort or less welcome in many places and stop visiting some places (Long- hurst, 1998). Pregnant women easily and almost unconsciously abandon the public sphere-at least the dark streets at night. Moreover, they are constantly advised to do so in the medical discourse they face and in the warnings of friends and relatives:

Many people say that when you have children it [the fear] starts. Our first one is just about to be born and often people tell me to be careful and everything. The warnings come from all over Maybe it does that, it opens your eyes more and you think maybe you should be more careful. And also my husband says the taxi is the only option to travel with.

Manta, 24 (in interview) There is a tendency to treat pregnant women as though they were physically incapacitated and to advise them to act accordingly: the rhetoric of pregnancy is constructing pregnant women as 'belong- ing within the confines of the domestic realm' (Longhurst, 1996, p. 146). As a consequence of their reproductive role, women are 'put back' into the domestic sphere and excluded from public space. Having less contact with public space may mean a less balanced picture of its risks, and less expertise at negotiating it when this becomes nec- essary (Pain, 1994). Although women's experiences of pregnancy-and the spatial changes that come with it-certainly vary, 'the unwritten cultural rules of pregnancy' (Longhurst, 1998, p. 29) do

touch most pregnant women to some extent. Much of the social control of women's behaviour relies on norms of respectability, such as being a good mother (Green et al., 1987). Pregnant women are often treated as 'prospective mothers' and expected to fulfil a mythical role of a mother.

Nevertheless, motherhood brings enormous changes in many women's lives. Having a life situation with a higher degree of responsibility sometimes means that women are not so much afraid for themselves as for the others, including children and husbands:

After having children I have started to think about the possibility of being a victim of violence. You can't really so much be afraid for yourself but the idea that something bad might happen to my children or husband is tormenting.

Annukka, 34 (in writing) Women's emotions are characterized by their love for their children and partners. Yet their fear also re- flects a more general concern for life. Feelings of responsibility and care are followed by spatial constraints on one's lifestyle:

Earlier I used to move a lot in the city centre, and I was kind of more courageous when I was with friends. But now, when I have a child, I move less frequently... I've got like a thresh- old, so that I can't go or dare not go, or what if something happens.

Petra, 30 (in interview) In Britain, motherhood is associated with high levels of concern about child sexual assault (Pain, 1997a). In Scandinavian countries, this issue has more recently become the focus of public debate, but nevertheless, the harassment of children is a real concern for mothers. 'Tove', who lives near the prostitution district in Kallio, writes:

I'm not afraidfor myself butfor my little year- and-a-half-old girl. I'm already planning to move out from this area because I wouldn't dream of letting my girl walk alone to school ... This fear makes me distressed and unhappy.

Tove, 34 (in writing) By motherhood it comes more prevalent to be concerned about safety. The social expectations show a clear message: medical discourses, media debates

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as well as communication with relatives and friends constantly remind mothers of the importance of the safety of children. Pregnant women are advised to pay special attention to their health and safety in order to protect the unborn child. Mothers are reminded about the various dangers their children might meet, ranging from traffic accidents to child sexual assault. Suddenly, safety becomes the key word of everyday life. Hence it becomes natural to be concerned about the safety of public space as well both for women themselves and for their children and partners.

Conclusions: gender and exclusion Scandinavian women are often considered to have equality and independence. Indeed, in Scandinavi- an cities women do not restrict their lives within the private sphere to the same extent as they have been claimed to do in cities elsewhere (see Koskela, 1997). It could be claimed that women's confidence to use public space is a reflection of gender equality. However, despite the fact that some Scan- dinavian women are courageous and spatially confident, this paper has shown that many are fearful. Also in Scandinavia gender works as a basis for exclusion. Despite this women's safety has not been among the aims of urban planning in the Scandina- vian countries, unlike in the Anglo-American countries where it is commonly accepted as an important aim. What is now needed is both discussion on urban policies and planning procedures which would increase safety and theoretical reasoning on the social and spatial structures of fear, gender and urban space.

Urban space is produced by gender relations, and reproduced in those everyday practices where women do not-or dare not-have a choice over their own spatial behaviour. Experienced violence, threat of violence, sexual harassment and other events that increase women's sense of vulnerability are reinforcing masculine domination over space. Fear can be argued to be a consequence of women's unequal status, but simultaneously it is contributing in perpetuating the gendered inequalities (Pain, 1991). The spatial constraints in women's lives are a reflection of gendered power relations.

It has been claimed that women's fear of violence is a manifestation of social control. It is a common argument of radical feminists that violence is used by men collectively as a way to control women-that there is a 'conspiracy' among all men to intimidate women (Duncan, 1996). Howev-

er, I wish to distance myself from this extreme argument, which relies on a concept of 'personal- ized' power. The notion that women-as individuals-are excluded from public space because of male violence does not lead to the conclusion that only men-as individuals-cause this exclusion. Rather, it is a mosaic of complex processes of power and gender relations.

Women often restrict their mobility 'voluntari- ly'. Women's inability to use space freely is not regarded as a serious constraint but rather a normal and accepted condition. Women either consider it natural to have constraints or claim that it is fairly easy to organize life in such a way:

It is clear that an old person, even a person who enjoys an outdoor life, stays at home when it is dark.

Olga, 69 (in writing) Fear of street violence is influencing my life in such a way that I normally go nowhere on Fri- day or Saturday nights, especially not in the dark seasons ... For a pensioner this habit is easy to follow ... The late evening outings are not important at all.

Rauha, 59 (in writing) This ostensible voluntarity, however, is not a simple matter of individual choice. In a situation where a threat of male violence is not present, a woman's choice (not to go out) could very well be different. Thus her decision is not a matter of individual mobility but rather a result of gendered (and age-related) power. Much of the power which modifies women's behaviour can be regarded as being control through 'consent' rather than through 'coer- cion' (Green et al., 1987, p. 91). This power is often taken for granted, and thus remains unnoticed. The notion that 'exclusions take place routinely, without most people noticing', is an important aspect of the problem (Sibley, 1995, p. xiv). This makes it particularly important to focus research in such a way that it helps to reveal the hidden dimensions of power and exclusion.

When women are afraid-when they feel un- comfortable about being in a certain space-they avoid this space and are forced to reproduce the masculine domination over space against their will. Their subjective feelings participate in the intersubjective power-related production of space. Feel- ings of fear are simultaneously a consequence of women's subordinate position and their own con-

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tributions to the perpetuation of gendered power in relation to space. This paper has attempted to make visible some of these power relations which have spatial consequences and which contribute to the gendered exclusions that take place in contempo- rary cities.

Hille Koskela, Department of Geography, PO Box 4, Fin-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland. E-mail: [email protected]

Notes It must be noted that the issue of safety and vulnerability is deeply connected not only to gender but to race and sexual orientation (often together with gender) (e.g. Smith, 1986; Rose, 1993; Valentine, 1996). However, in my empirical research neither race nor sexual orientation have been discussed enough for me to be able to analyse their significance in relation to fear. This is probably at least partly due to the racial homogeneity of Finnish society and the relatively hidden role of sexual minorities in Finland, as well as to the relatively small sample of women on which my qualitative analysis is based. Hence the feeling of insecurity that is bound into the structurally subordinate positions of some women, for example, ethnic or sexual minorities, is not discussed in this paper. Yet this is by no means to deny the importance of the structural vulnerability of minority groups or the importance of differences among women.

2 The number of fearful women is related to the form of the question asked, and thus most studies are not directly com- parable.

3 It is important to understand how much the wording of the question can affect the results. Multiple terms can be used to describe the nature and level of fearfulness. For example, in English, terms such as 'fear', 'worrying', 'irritation', 'shock'. In Finnish, words such as 'pelko', 'huolestuneisu- us', 'turvattomuus' can be used; in Swedish, 'rddd', 'otrygg', 'orolig'; and in Norwegian, 'frykt', 'redd', 'utrygg', 'urolig'; and so on. The exact formulation of the question is by no means without importance. It can very much affect the impression which a respondent gets. Often the researcher's idea of the information being elicited differs from the impression of a respondent. The choice of the wording depends on the subjective images of the researcher who is re- sponsible for it, and the importance of this matter can be easily neglected. Hence the presumed objectiveness of quantitative research can be-even in the light of this con- sideration alone-seriously questioned.

4 The original wording of the questions in Finnish was: 'Kuinka turvalliselta Teisti tuntuu kavellessanne yksin my6haan perjantai- ja lauantai-iltoina paikkakuntanne kes- kustassa?' (Korander, 1994); and 'huoli vikivallan kohteek- si joutumisesta iltaisin kodin ulkopuolella' (Niemi, 1994).

5 The original question in Swedish was 'Om Du ga'r ut sent en kvall i Ditt omratde, kanner Du Dig trygg eller otrygg, eller gar Du i stort sett aidrig ut sena kvhllar?' (Tiby, 1991, p. 17).

6 The women were chosen with the help of the National Con- sumer Research Centre, which had collected 'a panel', a group of citizens representing different ages, educational

backgrounds, occupations and social classes willing to take part in such research projects. My letters of invitation were sent to female members of the Consumer Panel (aged between 20 and 30, living in Helsinki) asking them to attend for interview. Most of the women I interviewed came through this route, and a few came through personal contacts. The advertisements were placed in a popular women's magazine (Anna) and in a magazine received for free by all pen- sioners and social security claimants (Kelan Sanomat). Of thirty stories, twenty-five were written by women and five by men. The women's stories have been analysed here.

8 The quotations from interviews and written stories have been translated from the original tapes and letters transcribed in Finnish. Hence 'the atmosphere of spoken lan- guage' and the women's personal ways of describing their feelings have been difficult to sustain. However, I have paid special attention to retaining their tone as much as possible.

9 In the qualitative material I collected there was evidence that both winter nights and summer nights were perceived to be the most dangerous. In winter the nights were perceived to be dangerous because of the darkness. Summer nights were argued to be dangerous because of the warmer temper- atures, which makes it is easier to stay hidden in bushes and because people are generally moving around more.

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Article Contentsp. 111p. 112p. 113p. 114p. 115p. 116p. 117p. 118p. 119p. 120p. 121p. 122p. 123p. 124

Issue Table of ContentsGeografiska Annaler. Series B, Human Geography, Vol. 81, No. 2 (1999), pp. 61-130Front Matter [pp. 90-110]Inter-Firm Linkages and Regional Impact of Transnational Corporations: Company Case Studies from Shanghai, China [pp. 61-72]New High-Tech Industries and Windows of Locational Opportunity: The Role of Labour Markets and Knowledge Institutions during the Industrial Era [pp. 73-89]'Something Happened': The Relevance of the Risk Society for Describing the Siting Process for a Municipal Landfill [pp. 91-109]'Gendered Exclusions': Women's Fear of Violence and Changing Relations to Space [pp. 111-124]Book ReviewsReview: untitled [pp. 125-126]Review: untitled [pp. 126-127]Review: untitled [pp. 127-129]

Back Matter [pp. 130-130]

'GENDERED EXCLUSIONS': WOMEN'S FEAR OF VIOLENCE AND CHANGING RELATIONS TO SPACE

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