Dirty Young Men

Women's Liberation and youth's emphasis on freedom have combined to produce a new phenomenon in the U.S.: female hitchhiking. It is a romantic notion dating back to Claudette Colbert's in It Happened One Night. In at least one part of the country, however, it has not proved a salubrious mix. There have been 73 reported assaults on women hitchhikers in the Washington, D.C., area so far this year. These are probably only a fraction of those that have occurred.

Nearly all the girl hitchhikers are white and under 20. Their attackers, however, are generally not the "dirty old men" of lore, but young men in their 20s out cruising for trusting girls who feel "safe" riding with someone their own age. Said one policeman: "These girls believe their mothers' stories about the 'dirty old men.' They think anyone over 30 is out to get them. So they hop into a car driven by a young guy with long hair and beads. These are the guys who, in most cases, are committing the assaults."

Publicity about the danger has so far not kept the girls off the curbs. A generation of young women seem bent on proving that they are formidable enough to take care of themselves.

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