How Feeling Unsafe Affects our Mental Health

It’s no surprise to learn that women spend more time thinking about their safety than men, and that they generally feel less safe than their male counterparts. 

Taking daily measures to keep safe, whether consciously or subconsciously, can take its toll on mental wellbeing over time. Here, Psychotherapist and Psychological Coach Amy Launder explores some telling statistics that women have shared around feeling unsafe, how these fears manifest into the steps many women take to keep safe and the impact that this can have on their mental health. 

Feeling the Fear

Research shows that the fear of falling victim to crime is much more prominent in women than men, and that women feel they are at greater risk of this happening, too (May et al., 2010). Sadly, I’m sure it’s no surprise to read those statistics. What’s really telling, though, is the order in which women fear particular crimes. 

A study by the law firm Farah & Farah found that men fear dying above all else, followed by being mugged, burglary or physical attack, and finally sexual assault. In comparison, women fear sexual assault first, followed by physical attack, dying, burglary, and finally being mugged. 

Let’s let that sink in: women fear sexual assault and physical attack more than they fear death. 

The disparity between the percentage of male and female respondents that feared sexual assault is likely due to the higher rates at which women and men experience sexual assault or are exposed to the likelihood of being the victim of sexual assault. 

For example, according to Plan International, more than 3 in 10 adult women have said that they have been whistled at in the street or have received unwanted sexual comments while in public spaces, and this increases to 4 in 10 women when we look at women of school age. 

It makes sense then that women are considerably more likely than men to answer that they “always” or “often” feel unsafe participating in everyday activities. It was also found that roughly 20% of women “always” or “often” feel unsafe when going on a first date, in comparison to 9% of men who felt the same way (YouGov, 2019). 

This low-level but pervasive fear is often something that women aren’t aware is there, but even when they are, they feel like it won’t be understood by the men in their lives. They worry that they will be viewed as “crazy” or “paranoid”. For example, a male partner might find it annoying or confusing when their female partner asks them to tag along when test driving a car. It might not cross the male’s mind that test driving a car alone with a stranger poses a significant risk. 

Preventative Measures

It follows naturally then that women spend a lot of time (consciously or not) planning for their own safety. A quick Instagram survey of my own revealed tactics that women regularly employ such as; “pulling up my hood and walking like a man”, being on the phone or pretending to be on the phone with someone, not listening to music, crossing the street if someone is behind them, not taking shortcuts that will be unlit, and so on. And these all came in within minutes of me asking the question. 

61% of women say that they regularly take steps to avoid sexual assault. Nearly the same proportion of men that say they don’t (YouGov, 2019).

Farah & Farah asked women and men what precautions they take to protect themselves from sexual assault, and these were the top contenders:

Over 82% of women said that they keep their doors locked while at home, in comparison to 70.9% of men. Over 68% of women keep their lights on at home while they are out, in comparison to just over 50% of men. Almost 70% of women lock their car doors and drive away immediately, compared to just over 40% of men. Almost 59% of women walk with their keys in between their fingers while alone, in comparison to just over a quarter of men. 

A lot of these behaviours are learnt from friends, teachers, parents, and the media. Teenagers or pre-teens being told not to wear their hair in a ponytail as it makes it easier to grab, to walk with their keys between their fingers, and being given a rape alarm by their parents. Exposure to the presence of danger and the use of defensive behaviours is ingrained from a young age. 

A popular thread on Twitter asked women what things they do to keep themselves safe while jogging alone, and some of these answers were enlightening. One of the most common answers was to bring along their intimidating-looking dog. However, for those who don’t own a menacing looking German Shepherd, other common answers included not listening to music, not running alone, and holding a sharp keyring between your fingers. 

One answer on this thread was particularly simple, but perhaps showed how ever-present the fear of attack is; “I try not to push myself too hard when running, in case I need to preserve energy to run away from someone.”

What is the impact of pervasive fear?

There is a lot of research out there on the level of fear that women feel and the measures that they take or should take, to prevent an attack or assault, but there is not much out there on the psychological impact that this underlying, pervasive level of fear has on us.

Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs outlines what motivates human beings. It is a pyramid with varying categories of needs, with those on the bottom levels supposedly needing to be fulfilled before we can move on to the higher levels to achieve self-actualisation. In this pyramid, there are 5 categories of need, starting from the bottom of the pyramid, being: physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualisation. 

A feeling of physical safety comes just above food, water and air on this pyramid, and yet so many of us don’t feel safe a lot of the time. 

In terms of how the brain reacts to this low-level persistent feeling of “unsafety”, there seems to be almost no difference between reactions to fearful situations, and reactions to perceived fearful situations. So, your brain will react in a similar way whether you are feeling unsafe while jogging or running away from an attacker. 

In both of these situations, your body will prepare itself to either flee or fight. In order to do this, levels of cortisol and adrenaline will increase, giving you the energy to run away from an attacker or defend yourself. However, if you don’t have to do either of these things, you are simply left with higher levels of these stress hormones in the body and nowhere to dump them. 

Having consistently higher levels of cortisol and adrenaline in the body is linked to higher levels of both anxiety and depression, meaning that it can turn into a never-ending cycle of feeling unsafe. 

A safer future

As much of the research here shows, there are multiple organisations out there cultivating conversations around the impact that feeling unsafe can have on mental wellbeing, and are driving change to make our streets safer. 

Some positive steps are being taken in the tech space, too. Apps such as One Scream are designed specifically for women to help them to feel safer every time they’re out alone. Through innovative technology, the app triggers messages to the user’s chosen contacts if a scream is heard without needing to unlock their phone, helping to prevent a potential attack before it happens. 

Women should be able to take charge of their own safety and wellbeing so that they aren’t held back from what they want to pursue. This is an ongoing effort in many areas, and with any luck we will start to feel increasingly safe as positive change continues to grow.

The One Scream app is available to download via the App store or Google Play.

Amy Launder is an accredited Psychotherapist and Psychological Coach working both in Private Practice and with NHS clients via The Awareness Centre. She enjoys researching and exploring ideas within the mental health and wellness fields, and often shares these ideas via Instagram as @amylaundertherapies.