摘要：This paper is a report of a small scale piece of primary research on the nature and effects of male altruistic fear of crime within heterosexual relationships. Traditionally, research on the fear of crime focuses on women and has repeatedly discovered evidence of fearful women whilst implicitly assuming that men are fearless. Feminist researchers have found that women manage their fear of crime by developing strategies to maximize their feelings of safety. Meanwhile, patriarchal ideology dictates that men should be chivalrous towards women and casts them in the role of 'protector'. However, as women are statistically more likely to experience a violent crime at the hands of a man well known to them, this ideology potentially maximizes women's vulnerability. Attempting to move beyond the fearful women/fearless men dichotomy, the piece considers altruistic fear of crime, or fear that a significant other or loved one will become a victim of crime, among heterosexual men. It is posited that men's altruistic fear of crime for female partners is exacerbated by women's socializing and specifically their use of alcohol. Further, men's altruistic fear of crime is identified as indicative of a broader masculine insecurity. Thus the piece demonstrates the ways in which personal fear of crime is a component of appropriate femininity and altruistic fear of crime is a component of hegemonic masculinity.
