Prepare yourself for the worst: narratives of fear in late-twentieth century women’s travel guides

Abstract

ABSTRACTDuring the 1970s and ’80s, the United States experienced a dramatic rise in crime. As violent offenses increased, so did Americans’ fear of crime. Dialogue about criminality provided an outlet for people to express anxieties about this social problem. A narrative emerged out of this ‘crime talk’ that normalised women’s fear of crime, perpetuating the belief that violence was random and committed by strangers. Although women were more likely to be victims of intimate partner violence than to be attacked by unknown assailants, and less likely than men to come face to face with crime in general, prevention discourse suggested that all women were victims in the making. In a set of travel guides written for women in the 1990s, the authors perpetuated narratives of fear – for one’s own personal safety, and of the ‘other’. These travel guides, as an example of prevention discourse, encouraged readers to restrict their use of space and alter their vacation experiences in order to ensure their safety and quell their anxieties. With an assumed a priori victim-status, supported by examples of real women who encountered crime in their travels, these guidebooks responded to a culture of fear, preaching risk management strategies to their readers.