The below link is to an article about a home invasion in Connecticut, the second man responsible was just convicted. In summary, two men followed a woman and her daughter home, when they invaded the home, they beat up the husband/dad (Dr. William Petit), tied the girls up, raped and strangled the wife/mom and sexually assaulted one of the daughters. Then they set fire to the house. The husband/dad escaped and managed to get to a neighbors house to call for help.
After the trial Dr. Petit was saying how this crime was indicative of the problem of violence against women, if he had two sons instead of daughters would this have happened. I kind of stopped listening at that point, my thought was, while it is doubtful your son would have been sexually molested, it is still very possible that if it had been his wife and son, they would have still been followed home, the two men would have still beaten Dr. Petit up, robbed them and killed his family.
The fact is, people don’t worry about boys like they worry about girls. Fact is, boys are vulnerable like girls. Look at Dalmer and Gacy, they murdered boys, Gacy raped and murdered lots of boys. People worry about me living alone in NYC, (except for Alex, who knows I have a baseball bat and know how to use it) even though I have two locks on my door that I always lock, I’m careful, I don’t take chances. Of course that could probably be said about Jennifer Hawke-Petit, who was living in Connecticut of all places, which probably caused her to lower her guard, not that anyone can truly prevent you from being victimized. Which is partially my point here, anyone can become the target of a psychopath, there is no way to prevent it.
The rest of my point is that Dr. Petit is entitled to his opinion, I have the utmost sympathy for him, but to me his comments speak more about the attitude in this country toward women, that women are not as good as men, they are helpless and can’t protect or take care of themselves. The thought that women must be polite, if a perfect stranger asks you where you live, you must of course answer him because not answering him would be rude. Not only are women though of as inferior, they are also set up to be victims. You tell someone where you live because you don’t want to be rude. Unless you are saying “F you a.” in response to a simple question you’re not being rude. Now if he continues to ask after you have told him you are uncomfortable giving out personal information you have my blessing to stick him in the ribs with a very sharp knife.
And that’s all, says she.
Joshua Komisarjevsky Guilty in Connecticut Home Invasion Case
Belleza
just a city girl 
I had a different interpretation of Dr. Petit’s remarks. While I agree with you that the crime very well could have happened if he’d had sons instead of daughters, and that boys are vulnerable too, I didn’t hear Dr. Petit saying that women are helpless or not as good as men. When he said that the horrific events wouldn’t likely have happened if he had sons, I took it to mean that he believes that rape was the primary motive for the home invaders. The two perps’ violent, perverted, appalling attitude toward women, and their intent to rape, were major contributing factors in their decision to target the Petit home. I think he’s spot on.
His view is supported by the fact that the perps could have reasonably invaded any home in that upscale neighborhood to steal money and property. Yet, they choose the Petit house after noticing Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her younger daughter in the grocery store and following them home. These monsters were obviously attracted to Dr. Petit’s wife and youngest daughter, and targeted them for rape. If he’d had sons, his family would likely not have been chosen.
It is true that Gacy and monsters like him have attacked boys, and I acknowledge that men are sometimes the victims of rape as well. Even so, it doesn’t make sense to deny that women are raped more often than men. Moreover, some men (and women) hold attitudes that sanction or tolerate violent, harmful acts directed explicitly against women. This does not make us inferior, helpless or unable to take care of ourselves, but it does mean that we are more likely to be targeted by predatory assholes in ways that most men will never worry about.
Facing this reality does not mean setting women up as victims, IMO. On the contrary, in facing it we can be empowered and better prepared to protect ourselves, decreasing our likelihood of victimization. I, for one, am grateful to him for drawing attention to the problem of violence against women and attitudes that sanction or tolerate rape.