This original post seemed to have good intentions of encouraging women to walk, but the statements are deeply offensive/hurtful. I hope the OP will take time to understand why. We can all learn from each other on this forum and share with good will, as we will on the Camino.
A woman being forced to look at a man's genitals or a man masturbating is not okay or harmless. It is a sexual crime against women. And if someone has had a history of being sexually assaulted, I can only imagine that such an experience could be particularly traumatic.
A study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law followed up on exhibitionists for 13 years and found that almost one-third were later charged and/or convicted of sexual/violent crimes. The authors of the study believe these numbers to be underrepresented and that the rates are actually higher. They also found that nearly 40% of exhibitionists graduated from "hands off" to "hands on" offenses.
Exhibitionism has historically been viewed as more of a nuisance than a serious criminal justice matter. Research has demonstrated that the number of exhibitionists who are detected re-offending is a significant under-representation of the number who actually re-offend. The objective of this...
On this very forum, from fall 2019, a woman named Sara posted video about how she was flashed by a man on the Camino and later, in a different part of the Camino, that very same man flashed her again and chased her. She believed herself to be running for her life, and incredibly, happened to run for help into the house of a police officer on his day off. The flasher had a knife on him and had previously been convicted of RAPE. Sara pressed charges and testified in court because she did not want the man to get away with it and do this to someone else.
Sara's video made me realize that when I walk the Camino, I would absolutely report any flasher I see and take photos for police if possible. The person who flashes you on the Camino in one moment could be trying to rape another woman in another moment. And even without that, no man should be allowed to do that to woman after woman on the Camino.
For me, for my history and life experiences, I would not let the possibility of assault stop me from walking the Camino. I will walk it and take actions that help me feel safe, knowing this will be different for each person. But I would never tell another woman what she should or should not do to feel safe on the Camino, what is safe or not safe for her, or IF the camino is or is not safe for her. Sexual assault can happen at any moment, walking alone in remote places creates the potential for great vulnerability, and statistics don't matter if you are the one being raped or the one running for your life.
Also, sexual assault and violence against women are universal and a deep problem in every single society and country throughout time. Discussing very real dangers against women who are walking the Camino is not a slight in any way against the people of Spain--although the recent knife attacks against the women on the Camino and the abominable police response/indifference are something that absolutely need to be addressed.