Reykjavík Grapevine - 10.11.2017, Qupperneq 56

L IF E , T R AV EL & EN T ER TA INMEN T IN ICEL A ND
Issue 20 × 2017
Nov 10 – Dec 7
www.grapevine.is

LAST WORDS
The Subject,
The Absolute,
The Other
Words: Hannah Jane Cohen
“Men are afraid that women will laugh at them.
Women are afraid men will kill them,” says
Margaret Atwood.
Yes, quite the pithy phrase, right? Auspi-
cious, sensational, the perfect soundbite for
upper middle class “Gender Studies” majors
to whisper solemnly in poetry readings.
I always thought that kind of thinking was
removed from reality, melodramatic, and
above all else, stupid. I had never subscribed
to Atwood’s assertion, and never in my wildest
dreams could have imagined that the moment
I did would be on the notoriously safe streets
of Reykjavík. But hey, life is unpredictable.
The situation
Last Wednesday, as I walked home from work
around 2:30 AM, a man started aggressively
following me in his car, screaming ferociously
at me to come inside. The details are too long
for this short column, but the encounter ended
with me sprinting down Laugavegur as he ac-
celerated faster and faster at my side. Though
I eventually found two men who escorted me
home, the experience frightened me deeply.
This man had malicious intent. He wanted to
harm me. I was in danger.
Yet, here I was, on Laugavegur, the busiest
street in Reykjavík, Iceland’s capital, which had
effectively turned into a ghost town in the wee
hours of the morning. The streets were barren.
The shops were closed. My options were hor-
rifyingly limited. Get home? That’s far. 10/11 on
Hverfisgata? Even farther. Hide? Scream? Fight?
This sent a shiver through my soul. It hit me
quickly that were this man to attack me, there
was little I could realistically do.
The solution
Now, I know my experience was unusual. Ice-
land is a relatively safe country. But consid-
ering the similarity of my circumstance to
that of Birna Bjarnadóttir’s—who was kid-
napped and murdered while walking down
Laugavegur in January of this year—I now
worry about walking home. What is the solu-
tion for women against the innate biological
strength of men?
Unfortunately, as my mother told me the
next day, every woman has this horrifying
realisation one day. It’s the tragic reality of
being the weaker sex, but I should be happy I
came out of my experience unscathed. Others
are not so lucky.
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Reviewed January 23, 2017