Abstract

Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, Vol. 10, No. I, 2001 K. Edward Renner1,2 Early one evening I was driving alone along a largely deserted downtown street when I saw a woman's unbuckled belt fall from her dress coat. I slowed down, pulled closer to the curb and said, "You dropped your belt." She turned her head away, walked more briskly, and ignored me. I pulled over to the curb saying in a very loud voice, "YOU DROPPED YOUR BELT." She looked angry and perhaps a bit frightened when I stopped my car, and then relieved when my message registered. She managed a "Thank you" and I a neighborly wave. As we both went our way, I was reminded of the deep civic price both men and women pay for our failure to have to come to grips with male sexual violence, including harassment. My story is not unusual. Each of us has had similar experiences, collectively reflecting the nuances of the gender gap that touches our lives daily. Neither men nor women would consciously choose such a "State" in its political sense or such a "state" in its psychological or social senses. Yet, we have allowed this