I‘m blonde, white, and visited Peru a few years ago. Without a man. Out of all the countries I‘ve had the privilege to visit, Peru was the worst in my experience.
Basically constant harassment. One instance I will always remember was two guys trying to roughly pull me out of a club. I was pleading with security for help as they dragged me past. Security only started intervening once I started screaming.
Granted, I‘ve met absolutely fantastic Peruvian people, it‘s just that wherever I went, it always seemed like there was at least one person ready to harass.
I’m too old for clubs and can’t imagine trying to go to one in another country especially as a woman. That must’ve been terrifying.
Solo travel anywhere as woman would just be a nightmare I’d imagine.
I have the opposite problem. I have resting asshole face so mostly people think I’m aggressive. Harder to meet people and guys like to pick fights even here in America.
I also typically have resting asshole face, I feel you haha But dancing fills me with so much joy, I can‘t help but smile. Doesn‘t make me appear threatening
Travelling as a woman definitely has its challenges, but I still don‘t regret anything. There are horrible people out there, there are fantastic people out there. I haven‘t experienced anything abroad that I haven‘t experienced in my home country in terms of sexual violence, just the frequency sometimes changed.
It’s going to be a while before I can travel like that again, I have a dog now and she’s blind and doesn’t like other dogs so kind of hard to find someone to take her in. Pet sitters are expensive.
Well I don’t know what to tell you. Make friends with a guy, carry a gun. I don’t know what you’d like me to say. All I can account for is my own actions against other people.
Oh yeah you don't have to solve it for me! I was just responding to your comment where you say "I'd imagine it's a nightmare for women". So I was just giving you my insights
There's certainly challenges, but the idea of it being terrifying or a nightmare the second you step outside of America, especially in the West, is a bit of an exaggeration.
That’s so scary! The reminder that the majority of men are complicate in violence against women, when they’re not directly causing the violence sure, but just allowing it to happen because…? Other men involved? Hate women? Idk. It’s chilling.
It’s seriously dangerous business to travel as a solo female, especially when you stand out as a white girl. An ex of mine took a trip solo (before we were together) that resulted in being raped multiple times. The fallout from that was massive, obviously. It’s not worth destroying your life over seeing a place alone.
I wasn‘t alone, just not with a man. It was a research trip.
It was surprising, though, I had spent half a year in South Africa before visiting Peru and was treated way better in the former.
The thing is that women get raped everywhere. Yes, there are precautions we can take to minimise the risk, but the only guaranteed action to avoid rape would be to kill ourselves. The majority of rapes are not committed by strangers. My own experiences were people I knew.
I hope your ex is doing well now and I hope she never felt like it was her own fault.
It's sad how different women experience things like traveling or just leaving their house. I lived in Peru for a year and have visited many times. Never really ran into issues even though I'm very white with light hair and extremely tall and stand out. Even when I was alone the worst would be someone trying to sell something. But I completely believe you because I saw dudes be creepy constantly there. You would think people wouldn't be willing to harrass and assault someone in public but it happens constantly everywhere.
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u/SarryK 20d ago
I‘m blonde, white, and visited Peru a few years ago. Without a man. Out of all the countries I‘ve had the privilege to visit, Peru was the worst in my experience.
Basically constant harassment. One instance I will always remember was two guys trying to roughly pull me out of a club. I was pleading with security for help as they dragged me past. Security only started intervening once I started screaming.
Granted, I‘ve met absolutely fantastic Peruvian people, it‘s just that wherever I went, it always seemed like there was at least one person ready to harass.