A bit about "potential rapists".

[JoeyT]

45. It depends on the person.

The percentage of risk isn't terribly high for any individual man being a rapist, but the consequences of being wrong even once are dire. How the reward weighs against the risk depends largely on how much the woman values conversations with strangers, or at least her perception of how much she might value the conversation with the stranger that's trying to approach her.

Edited to add: For many it also depends on the situation. Assuming the best of intentions from a person walking quickly toward you down a dark alley is a recipe for disaster no matter who you are. It's far safer to assume the best of intentions from someone in a well lit, highly populated area, though even that carries some risk. (He could be a stalker.)

A lot of the time when this comes up it's because a guy was terribly offended when he approached a woman in a place where she couldn't get help and couldn't get away, then became outraged because he thought she acted as though he was a rapist. In reality, she probably didn't think he was a rapist, he'd just approached her in a situation where the risk became unacceptable. The same woman is far more likely to talk to us at a well lit party where she knows lots of people than she is when we're the only two people in a subway car or elevator.