MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

In travel guides written for women in the mid- to late-1990s, the authors perpetuated narratives of fear — for one’s own personal safety, and of the “other.” During 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 citizens to express their anxiety about this social problem. A narrative emerged out of this “crime talk” that normalized 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. This presentation will show how 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, which was 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.