The respectable middle-class woman is central to any discussion on safety and public space in the city. However, the demand for respectability means that she can only have conditional access to public space. The need to demonstrate respectability in her everyday actions and movements and the focus on sexual safety instead of real safety, actually denies middle-class women rights to public space. Furthermore, the insistence on respectability excludes other women who are deemed ‘unrespectable’ from staking any claim whatsoever to public space.
