I'm not sure why people choose to lump elevators in with dark parking lots or side alleys. How dangerous are elevators? Or is this simply a faulty perception?
Elevators, because the place dissected here for weeks was one.
No, simply because it is an enclosed space, where the only escape route, if I were an evil mugger or rapist, the panel to open the door, can be easily blocked. Elevators at 4am because even in a big hotel, at this time of day, corridors above the lobby have a tendency to be mostly deserted, so wherever someone gets off, they would still be simply alone in a corridor with someone who ( in case of women ) is likely physically stronger.
As for the faulty perception: Apparently yes. From another thread here, elevators are actually an unlikely place to be mugged or raped. But fear tends to be generalized, and an empty parking lot at night, a dark alley and an elevator with only you and a guy you don't know about, all share that there is no direct and immediate help in sight, if things go wrong.
But these are your bright and shiny lines. Why are they reasonable and others are not?
I actually didn't acquire them by reason or by explicit instruction. I simply noticed that some women when I came up behind them, walking to the bus station in the early morning, quickened their pace to get away from me, and that some women tended to seek as much distance in close spaces as possible. Now, I am not a particularly scary guy, but their behavior indicated that they were scared. I also experienced that a single woman who didn't know me refused the only ride in her direction after a garden party with two guys, until the host assured her, that we two are not only trustworthy, but rather unlikely to assault a woman.
They mostly grew empirically. But I don't expect you to simply accept my experience. I only want to point out that at least one person more in your area of the world,
Greg Laden , seems to consider at least the part about dark alleys to be self-evident enough, that everyone should get it. He writes that:
All men. ALL men who have given sufficient consideration to women's position in our society do this walking trick. If you are a man and you do not know about this trick then there is a problem with you.
So apparently I am not alone with my 'bright and shiny lines'.
Why shouldn't we err on the side of caution and urge men not to hit on women at all? We could eliminate social contact all together and communicate through the internet.
Because most women in groups, or in situations where they can get away or can expect help, should something nasty happen, aren't that scared of male strangers. Some posters in the other thread mentioned that they experience anxiety too in similar situations, although more related to getting in a fight or being mugged, than being sexually assaulted. Do you think they experience the same degree of anxiety on a lively street full of people, in a group of friends or in a friendly pub, as they would experience walking alone a side alley at night, or being in an enclosed space with a suspicious looking hunk?
Exactly, so eliminate seduction. Any date can turn into a nightmare.
Yes. In theory it can.
A question to you: Would you caution a daughter against using badly lighted streets alone at night, or staying away over night or driving with a man she doesn't know in his car, to the same degree as you would caution a son?
Hey, here's an idea... oh I don't know, it's a little something I pulled off the top of my head, what would it hurt if RW and others simply expressed their feelings and made it known that what they were doing was expressing opinion?
Do you mean that unless you explicitly state otherwise, all your statements on this board or in speeches or in conversation are to be taken as undeniable statements of fact?
RW expressed her opinion and her feelings. She said:
Um. Just a word to the wise here, guys: Uhhhh, don't do that. Um, you know. [laughs] Uh, I don't really know how else to explain how this makes me incredibly uncomfortable, but I'll just sort of lay it out that....
She gave lots of non-verbal clues that she doesn't speak the commandments of some imaginary deity.
RW had a valid point. She made it badly. You don't have to agree but at least admit that other people see this differently than you. That's all.
Sure, and she was a dick to various people. I don't contest this part.
It might be considered an unwanted pass. 
