it totally depends on who the male is.
when my boss walks me to my car after work–i feel like the safest person on the planet. not necessarily because he is beefy, or because i nkow he usually has a gun, but because he’s that macho guy. he’s not afraid of things. he would take a person down if they tried to hurt me.

my boyfriend on the other hand is not macho. which, obviously i prefer, as he is my boyfriend. but this is not so good when it comes to feeling safe. while i know he loves me, i’m not entirely convinced he wouldn’t run screaming if someone tried to grab me or something.

and drawing the line between trying to keep someone safe and becoming a force of disempowerment?
i don’t think there’s any answer to that.
as a woman, sometimes i like to be fiercly independent. other days i like to be taken care of.
this is a huge struggle for all of us–men and women–who live after the beginning of the feminist movement.
not that women’s lib is a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination–it’s just that there are no longer any rigid gender roles to sort of safely plug one’s self into.
everyday brings a different person, a different situation, and a different decision to make on how to properly and respectfully interact with people.

sorry i just typed so much.