1. The LW never stated her age

2. Finland is not part of Scandinavia

3. This discussion is dead

Finland not part of Scandinavia?

This is a very pedantic semantic point, given the context of this discussion.

The most usual definition of Scandinavia is the three countries of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, but for cultural purposes Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Finland are sometimes included.

Try reading the letter itself. She says explicitly that her fears are irrational and that she has had no experience that would suggest her bias.

You know, such knee-jerk reaction is exactly the "racism" you seem to condemn. She was asking for an explanation. Calling her whatever doesn't really get at the issue. And, by the way, reality is more complex. Group statistics suggest higher rate of violence among certain groups. It is idiocy to suggest that it is all racism. Give people some credit to be bad on their own. Okay? To me, as a non-white immigrant person, suggesting otherwise (oh, she is bad because of all that racism) suggests a real lack of faith in my agency. Who is racist now?

I was almost raped on my sixteenth birthday by a man outside my ethnicity. I was saved by a fortunate arrival of my neighbor.It scared the beejesus out of me. Fearing rape is a viseral experience for woman, a fear that threatens the integrity of the self. The fact that you experience it as this level suggests that you feel generally very vulnerable. So to the people (some woman, unbelievable) who would say, get over it, my answer is no. To be female means we live in a world where our bodies get looked at, commented upon, and sometimes taken against our will. We cannot stop at the fear but we must first acknowledge its existence.

Many, many writers here have showned themselves eager to throw their two-cents in, which is kind of a good thing since you wanted opinions, and called you that dreaded name among liberals, racist, which ranks with sexist and homophobe as our beating stick.

Cary is right. You need to arm yourself with information, technique, and a reflexive thinking which begins with you being curious with your reaction: why am i so afraid? why am i so afraid of these young men? then you can decide whether your fears tell you something about yourself and the world. You sound really like a sweet person, a person who is moved to question her own position which makes her uncomfortable because it goes against her own ethical position. This is the beginning of true courage and ethics. So bravo!

And, I am proud of Cary that he has defended you against those who would paint people with such an easy stereotypic brush even as they cast stones in your direction.

Dear LW,

I forgot to add that one of the main concerns with self defense of any kind is the amount of force and aggression. Being a vegetarian, I was very concerned, which was why I chose not to buy a gun. Also law suits present an additional problem as some practitioners of tae kwon do and karate have been sued by their attackers for defending themselves. These practitioners have lost their houses and money in court because they were deemed to have used excessive force. I have no idea what the laws in Scandinavian countries are, but be sure to research this. Kung-fu, aikido,jujutsu, and hapkido all have moves that are based on immobilizing the attacker rather than breaking their bones, etc. It's why many law enforcement agencies in the US and Japan teach police officers aikido and jujutsu moves because they also want to avoid possible lawsuits. When you watch a class, it's always good to talk to the instructor to find out his or her philosophy of self-defense.

No, you are not silly, you are a stupid racist who reads the wrong newspapers. Actually, you are not even sure whether it were the media who told you about the background of the rapist, it is just your impression. Based on what? And how do you recognise a muslim in the street?

Actually, I think this letter is a hoax. Being a woman, living half of the year in Europe (Amsterdam, actually) and the other in the Middle East, I think this letter is either written by a 12-year old (maybe Muslim male?) or by a person who is interested in the responses.

So thanks, Cary, for responding that rape is a real danger. Ever seen the statistics shwoing that the rapist is usually someone whom the victim knows and very rarely a big hairy (non-white) guy hiding behind a tree?

And what the heck is the link between assimilation of immigrants, the “complex cultural and religious forces clashing” on the one hand and rape on the other?

I had the same concerns as the letter writer when I was a college student (though in my case, no race issues were involved--just an almost debilitating fear of being raped). I think a lot of the problem has to do with the psychological issues surrounding growing up and being away from home for the first time. Also, the media really enjoys portraying young women as sexy victims--how many slasher movies can you think of where nubile girls are killed? And have you ever heard a news report about rape that didn't advise women to "stay at home; don't walk outside alone", as if it was our presence that was the cause of the rapes? The thought of sex alone can be scary to a young person, especially for girls who are usually only given the bad side of it. The combination of all these things takes a toll.

I took self-defense classes and they definitely helped--seeing a school counselor also helped. However, the thing that helped the most was just time, I'm sorry to say. I hope LW can get over her fears faster than I did.

Its sad to see that this woman was even condemned by her rational feeling coming from common sense.

The ethnic characters of rapists has alerady been covered.

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article190268.ece

Now its time for white norwegians to decide their own future without accusations and guilt-complexes coming from anti-white ideologies. Norway was norwegian for thousands of years and so should it remain.