Hold the phone, Mabel. I thought there wasn't supposed to be any crime in Northwest? That's what the realtor told me before he fled to his Cayman Islands offshore holding company.

The problem is that neighborhood has too many cute, friendly names in it. "Friendship Rec Center" "Friendship Heights" "McClean Gardens." That stuff only attracts perverts. They need to have scarier names like "Deep River Apartments on Lincoln Street" or "Euclid Avenue." No crime there.

A slight description might help. Forget the PC crap.
Is he Black, Latino, White, or whatever.

I rarely post comments, though I am an avid DCist reader. I have a little trouble with your ending remark, "Ladies, let's be extra careful out there." I realize the intention was to warn female readers about a dangerous threat, and I appreciate that. But the wording makes it sound like its the women's faults for not being careful enough that they are getting assaulted in the first place. Too often, the social reaction to rapes and sexual assualts is to advise women to be more cautious instead of focusing efforts on catching the perpetrators and deterring the crime in the first place. In the future, could you also warn men not to be out there assaulting women in the first place? Or to report suspicious behavior they see. Thank you.

"In the future, could you also warn men not to be out there assaulting women in the first place?"

Wow, there's a thought. Could you also send a word to the 7th St. gangbangers to quit with the evening target practice? Maybe head over to Trinidad and tell them to chill the f%^# out? While you're at it, perhaps you could get the message to the guy(s) who broke into my car that they really shouldn't be doing that.

@psycobambi...you've got to be kidding me. There is no way that wording could even be remotely construed as putting any sort of fault on the women in these sexual assaults. They're called assaults for a reason...it is one party's attack on another party. It is appropriate for DCist to warn women because they are the target. There is no reason to alert the male populous that they should not be engaging in this sort of activity...that is obvious enough. They're also trying to catch the perpetrator as it is, so there is no reason to say "hey coppers, let's catch that criminal!" A bit redundant, don't you think, when they're the ones issuing these statements?

And if you're really cheap, one of those lemon-shaped squeeze bottles of lemon juice can do wonders on a guy's eyes. Or you could do what Betty Page did and carry a brick around in your purse. Take that, masher!

Let it be known to all that I am now offended by anyone who tells me to "drive safely."

If pepper spray is legal then might I suggest the following product?

http://www.udap.com/Bearspecifications.htm

I know I'm doing a bit of comment-debate necromancy here, but seriously, onefemme?

I'm pretty sure men who carry out sexual assaults are few and far between - our moral code tells us that it's not right to assault women.

Similarly, I would bet that you don't assume that all men are going to sexually assault you, so you're not always on full guard to protect yourself any time you pass a man on the street.

So - correct me if I'm wrong - the advice of the author could be extrapolated to say: "Women of DC, I know that typically you feel safe around men, but because there is one social degenerate on the loose right now, it might behoove you to be a little bit more diligent and aware of your surroundings. It is unfortunate that this crazy is out there, but we don't want anyone else to be victimized."