Annmarie Throckmorton, M.A.
- Feb 22

Ordinary Fear

In 1974, I was a young undergraduate at Ohio State University when I worked at the OSU

Behavioral Sciences Laboratory doing door-to-door surveys. Overall I enjoyed the survey work. People were willing enough to do my surveys, succumbing to my cold call skills enough for me to talk them through fifty or even a hundred survey questions; and they often gave interesting answers.

However, this door-to-door survey work required me to go into the homes of strangers, and to sit in their living rooms, working them through surveys, while they thought who-knows-what sort of thoughts. But I kept myself in denial about the risks because most people are decent enough, I needed money and the pay was good. I hoped to be safe in my work. Then one day something happened, and I quit that survey work on the spot, feeling relieved to escape with my life. I have repressed the incident so completely that after over half a century I cannot remember it, other than I remember the fear that I felt as I struggled to escape. It sickens me so much that I cannot force myself to remember. From this great distance of time and the repression of my young fear of violence, my fear becomes ordinary, of no special quality or interest; commonplace and unexceptional. Violence at work and home happens to so many women, men, children, and other vulnerables.

My Fear Of Violence Became Ordinary Over Time